My Name Is Secret
by FossilRuins
Summary: For the past year, they've dealt with superpowers and a maniacal supervillain. How they got these powers? Well, that's a little fuzzy for both of them. Hidden, even from each other, Clary and Jace attempt to handle their double lives. When their civilian lives suddenly collide, secrets get out and everything changes.
1. I Hate You Too

**I know I have two other stories right now, but I really like this idea and I've already written a bit of it and I'm excited to share it. So, I hope you like the first chapter. Please review, favorite/follow, and/or check out my other stories if the mood so strikes you. Thanks!**

My Name Is... Secret

"Clarissa Adele Fairchild." Simon was sitting in the leather swivel chair when Clary walked in. The door had closed softly behind her, but that didn't matter now anyway. Because Simon was sitting right there. He stood up and clicked on the lightswitch to take in the sight of his best friend covered in dirt, grime, and... well, blood. But Clary hoped that the blood blended in enough with the rest of it that Simon couldn't tell. "It's almost four am. Care to explain where you've been all evening?"

"Not really." She walked further into the room taking off her filthy jacket and discarding it on the counter in the kitchen.

"Clare, you're always out at all hours of the night." Simon stood up and followed Clary as she went to her room. "You get weird bruises every other week and you never want to tell me where you've been. We've been best friends and roommates forever but it feels like you have an entire second life."

"Fine," Clary sighed as she gently peeled her shirt away from her skin and threw it on the floor. She'd changed in front of Simon a thousand times since they were children, this was nothing new. "If you really want to know my secrets then I'll tell you." She put her hands on her hips and took in a deep breath. "I'm the superhero Blindeye and every night I'm out fighting crime with the Badger." She smirked at her best friend and, after a moment, he burst out laughing.

"Right. Sure. Listen, if it is so important that you're keeping it a secret from your best friend then I won't force you to tell me the truth." Simon started out of the room and then paused. "Just tell me, you're not in a gang, are you?"

Clary laughed. "No, I'm not in a gang."

He nodded slowly, then left the room. Clary sat back on her bed and flinched as her bruised tailbone was affected. She sighed feeling guilty for lying to Simon. Although, she had technically just told him the truth. He merely didn't believe her. In his defense, she wouldn't have believed him if he claimed to be a superhero either. Shaking the thought from her mind, Clary finished peeling off the rest of her clothes. She went into her bathroom and studied the cuts she'd just gained from her last battle. If only she had Badger's healing abilities. Instead, she had to take out one of her numerous rolls of gauze and wrap it around various parts of her body.

Clary pulled on an XL t-shirt and then collapsed into her bed. She pulled the covers up over her head knowing that in two short hours she would have to be up again. But this was the gig and she was used to it. Hard work all day as a barista, then hard work all night as a superhero. About two hours of sleep was the norm. Four hours if she was real lucky. No hours if the villain was extra difficult to defeat or if the Badger was being lazy.

When the alarm clock rang, Clary groaned and pulled her pillow around to cover her face. Her door was flung open just moments later and her curtains were pulled apart. She groaned again, this time louder.

"Why do you hate me?" Clary whined.

"I wake you because I love you," Simon replied, "not because I hate you. Now, up and at 'em. You gotta get to work."

Clary whipped her pillow towards the boy but he ducked just in time. If she could use her powers on him now then she would. Clary pushed herself out of bed. Her injuries ached. Once she was up and dressed, she managed to get out to the kitchen of the apartment. Simon already had a cup of black coffee waiting for her. Thankful, she sat down at the island and sipped on the liquid.

"You need to get more sleep," Simon said.

"I'll try, _mom_." Clary glared up at him. "I just get busy, okay. I promise you that I'm fine."

"I trust you based on the promise." Simon plucked the mug from Clary's hand much to her dismay. "But I stand by my statement. You need to get more sleep."

"And I'll stand by my statement." Clary stood. "I'm fine." With that, she left the apartment and was on her way to work.

At Java Jones, Clary's work establishment, the first thing that she did was get herself another cup of coffee seeing as Simon prematurely took her other one. Her favorite coworker came up to her as she attempted to energize herself before the morning rush. Magnus Bane was dressed in his usual bright colors and glitter. He was cheery too. She resented him for that.

"Did you hear about the fight last night?" Magnus asked and Clary knew he wasn't talking about wrestling.

"Yup." She nodded. "I can't believe the Black Angel threw the Statue of Liberty's torch at Blindeye."

"Tell me about it." Magnus shook his head and there was this look of awe on his face. Throughout the entirety of their friendship, Clary knew that Magnus had a bit of an obsession with the superhero duo Blindeye and Badger. She always found it funny because if he knew who she really was he'd probably die. "It looked like it really hurt."

_No kidding_, Clary thought. "Yeah, but she bounced back."

"Like she always does. Did you see Badger though? That was like his best fight yet."

Clary rolled her eyes. Sure, Badger seemed charismatic and nice and funny to the public, but when it was just the two of them he was a pompous arrogant jerk. He was always the favorite in the media. Probably because he had no issue being on camera even if it risked exposing his identity. Clary, on the other hand, was smart and safe. She was kind to civilians and did her best to protect them from all the evils of the world. As a superhero should do. It never mattered though, Badger was still the favorite. So, she just sucked it up and lived in his shadow.

"What would you do if Badger came here?" Magnus randomly asked. "Like if he just showed up one day and we got to meet him."

Clary sighed. "I don't know. Freak out I guess? I mean, he is pretty amazing." The words hurt her to say.

"Well, I know what I would do," he sighed with a look in his eyes that meant nothing clean was going through his mind. "I would take him right here on this counter leaving the mask on his face and-"

"I don't need the details." Clary put her hands up begging him to stop. "I get the picture, Mags."

"Fine," he laughed. A customer entered then and he turned his attention on them.

Clary went about the rest day as normal. During lunch, she and Magnus went out to their favorite restaurant Taki's. It was any other day, except for the fact that all Clary was thinking about was what stunt Black Angel might pull next. Recently, he had become more aggressive in their battles. And while the Badger might not be able to get too badly injured, Blindeye certainly could be. And Badger never seemed to care too much.

On her way home that day, Clary's phone went off. She checked the message to find it was from her least favorite partner-in-crime. A while back, the two had given each other their phone numbers in case of emergency. They ended up texting one another often.

_From Platypus: _Did you hear that?

She rolled her eyes. He did remember she didn't have super hearing too, right?

_From Blindeye: You do know how big New York is? Where are you?_

_From Platypus: Oh, umm I don't know I was just around And there was an explosion Then I texted you_

_From Blindeye: Oh. My. God. _

_From Platypus: I found a sign. I'm at the corner of Washington and Mapel_

Clary shoved her phone back in her pocket with a sigh. She looked around to make sure she was alone before holding up her right hand and then closing it making herself turn invisible. As fast as she could, she found Badger's location.

The man in question was leaning against a brick wall and picking at his nails. His costume was all black aside from the white that almost looked as though it was being dragged down from his neck to his belt. His mask too was black but was nearly covered by his golden blonde hair anyway. Clary had always envied how good he looked in his costume. Of course, she had no idea what he looked like without it- scratch that, she meant in _normal _clothes, not _no _clothes- but he looked like a true superhero.

Clary herself had always felt off in her costume. It was red with crisscrossing gold stripes over her torso. Her own mask was also gold, as were her boots. Her hair was white against all the red and gold. Normally, it too was bright red, but she used her powers to change its color or else she was sure that she would be recognized.

"Yo platypus," Clary called as she approached.

Badger jolted up from where he stood and glanced around. When he didn't see his partner, he crossed his arms over his chest. "Could you maybe, I don't know, appear?" Standing beside him, Clary opened her right hand allowing herself to appear again. Badger yelped and jumped away from her. "I'd really appreciate if you'd stop doing that. I'd also appreciate if you would stop calling me platypus."

"Whatever, wombat." She looked around. "What did you hear?"

"There was some explosion inside that building." He pointed behind himself. "And I was going to check it out myself but the last time I did that you didn't stop yelling at me for a month."

"That was because you broke into a shoe factory and broke half the machinery before realizing that you were wrong and Black Angel was, in fact, not inside the factory and using it as a cover building for his villainous plans." Clary put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows at him. To this, he smirked.

"You know what, red," he started, "I don't recall in the past year ever having seen you raise just one eyebrow. Is it perhaps because you can't?" He raised just one of his eyebrows as if to further his annoyingness. It worked.

"We need to be getting to work, you labradoodle." Clary turned on her heel and started towards the entrance. Badger quickly caught up.

"That one doesn't even make sense," he groaned. "Are you really just going to walk in? No plan? I mean, you did see how well that worked for you last night, right?"

"Oh, shut up," she growled remembering how badly that torch had hurt when it hit her in the abdomen. "And we're going to take this one step at a time. You need to start thinking with your head instead of your fists, Badger. Chances are that you heard some teens messing around and Black Angel isn't even around here."

Badger said nothing further and the two entered the building together. Clary turned herself invisible again while her partner just did his best to be stealthy. Inside, the place looked like it was some abandoned warehouse. It was completely empty and absolutely creepy. Clary snuck forward and checked all the nooks and crannies of the place. She opened a few doors, as did Badger, and found nothing. The only strange thing was the black splat in the middle of the room that was probably from the explosion Badger heard earlier.

"There's nothing here," Clary said and she reappeared.

Badger sighed. "Apparently so." He bent over the debris and wiped a glove covered finger across the smut. When he looked back at his finger, he smelled it and frowned.

"What's the matter-" But Clary was cut off when someone landed on her back and knocked her to the ground. Whoever it was leaped off of her and she immediately rolled over and stood up. She stretched out her arms and an aura of color began to surround her body. Once she was covered, she brought up her leg to kick who had attacked her.

The person, who looked like Black Angel, stumbled backward. Badger then jumped on his back and twisted around slamming him on the ground. The guy didn't even have a chance. The moment he hit the ground he was out cold.

"That was easy," Badger said, "I can't believe we just caught Black Angel!"

"Don't be stupid." Clary rolled her eyes. She walked over to the body and stomped on the head. It faded to ash. "It was another one of his copies."

"What!" Badger gaped. "What was different about this one?"

"The color of his fingers."

"That's so _weird_." Badger ran a hand through his hair. "Alright, well since he's not here then I guess our work here is done."

"We should remember this place though," Clary said. "It has to mean something if he left a copy here. Leave a pin here on the maps in your phone."

Badger groaned. "I have like a dozen pins in my phone now. I don't know which are places for my regular self or for my superhero self."

"Oh, woe is me." Clary put a hand over her chest. "We have a job to do and remembering our battle locations is part of it. Whatever, let's just get out of here. It'll be nice to get some sleep for once." She started out of the warehouse and Badger was soon on her heel.

"You need to have a better attitude."

"You need to act like a real superhero."

"Pardon me," Badger scoffed, "but I _am _a real superhero. I've been in just as many battles as you have. I've saved just as many lives as you have, possibly more. If anything, I could do all this crap by myself. Just because I like to have a little fun too doesn't make me any less a hero." Clary rolled her eyes. "I don't get why we don't get along. I've known you for almost a year now. Did you realize that? It's almost the one year anniversary of us gaining these powers and becoming superheroes. I bet you don't even care."

"Honestly, not really! And you know why? Because there's a deadly villain on the loose that is continuously threatening not just us but the entire world every other day. We have more important things to deal with than fun or anniversaries or our regular lives." Clary was going to say more when she got a stabbing pain in her side. "Shit." She leaned over with her hands over her side.

"What's wrong?" He didn't even try to sound concern.

"That minion knocking me to the ground must've messed up one of my injuries from last night." She inhaled sharply and looked over at Badger. He was expressionless. "Not everyone has regenerative abilities." Sucking up the pain, Clary dropped her hands from her side and straightened up. "If you really feel so confident in your own abilities, the next time you think Black Angel is nearby don't bother texting me." With that, she turned invisible and left.


	2. Nice To Meet You

"JACE!"

The golden-boy fell out of his bed at the sound of his name. He would've groaned after the hard thud, but it really didn't hurt him and he refused to pretend. Instead, he pushed himself back up as his friend entered the room.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Alec questioned. He leaned against the door frame, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't know, Alec. Why _am I _on the floor?" He pulled himself up and stood. "Oh maybe because my so-called best friend screamed my name waking me up from a beautiful sleep at some ungodly hour."

"It's almost nine."

"Like I said, ungodly." Jace stepped past the other boy and out of his own room.

"Whatever." Alec followed Jace out. "Come on, get dressed. We're going out. You moved to Brooklin just over a year ago. After the first two weeks, you stopped spending as much time with me. You're out at all hours of the night and you're always tired. We're going to my favorite coffee shop. Maybe later today you can even meet my sister Isabelle. Now, come on."

Following the orders, Jace dressed lazily not even brushing his hair. The two were quickly on their way to this coffee shop. Jace got to thinking as they walked and he began to feel bad. Because Alec had been right. Over a year ago he'd moved out to New York but then he got stuck with his powers and hardly had time for anything including Alec. They had met in college and quickly grown to be best friends, but then Jace moved back with his parents for a couple of years. Moving back to New York was supposed to restart their friendship and jump-start Jace's independent life. That wasn't going so well and it was all thanks to Jace. His stupid superhero secret was tearing him at the seams.

When they got to the coffee shop, Jace realized that he'd seen it quite a few times but never been inside: Java Jones. It didn't really seem special, but then when they were ordering Jace realized why Alec must've liked the place so much. The male barista was very very obviously flirting with him. Jace smiled at the sight knowing that Alec rarely ever dated and felt he deserved someone new already. So, he went and found them a table while Alec continued to flirt.

As he sat waiting, Jace pulled out his phone. The last thing he'd used it for was to text Blindeye, ergo their messages were what appeared when he unlocked his phone. He thought back to their conversation from the night before. In his phone, her name was Color Freak since she had the ability of color manipulation. It was called something-kinesis. She always corrected him on it. Jace rolled his eyes and swiped the conversation away. She always had a way of getting on his nerves, even just in thought and memory.

When Alec finally returned to Jace, he set their drinks down on the table. Jace grinned knowingly and when Alec said nothing, he opted to speak instead.

"So, who was that?" He asked in a sing-song tone.

Alec rolled his eyes. "The barista? His name is Magnus. I'm here so much him and the other usual barista know my order."

"Does he know your order because you're a regular?" Jace leaned forward narrowing his eyes. "Or does he know your order because he likes you?"

At that, Alec's face turned the lightest shade of red. He changed the subject. "So, you were actually home earlier than usual last night."

"You make that sound like a bad thing."

"It's not, but you went to sleep early too. Which also isn't a bad thing. You don't sleep enough."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Jace waved a dismissive hand and took a sip of his drink. "I've heard it all before. Maturity, blah, blah, blah. Responsibility, blah, blah, blah. All that fun stuff."

"You've never been serious." Alec shook his head though he was smiling. The comment, as innocent as it was, struck a nerve. Maybe he wasn't all that great of a superhero. He did goof off a lot and he didn't always think about how his actions might affect others. Then again, what was he thinking? He was a _great _superhero!

After a little while, Alec got up and went off to the bathroom. It was precisely then that a redheaded girl entered the coffee shop and rushed behind the counter. The moment he laid eyes on her, Jace thought she was gorgeous. But there was also something oddly familiar about her and so he couldn't help it when he let his super-hearing pick up on what she was saying to the barista that Alec had been flirting with.

"Hey, Magnus. I'm sorry I'm late." She tied an apron around her waist and pulled her hair back.

"It's not an issue, biscuit. Everything okay?" Magnus said.

"Yeah." She nodded. "You know my friend Simon? He got really concerned about me last night and had me admitted to the hospital where I spent the night." Magnus opened his mouth but the girl held up her hand stopping him. "It's not a big deal and I'm perfectly fine. I promise."

"If you say so. Hey, when are you coming to another one of my parties? You keep ditching them at the last minute." At that, Jace stopped listening. He had grown bored already. Instead, he decided to tune in to some of the other conversations going on throughout the coffee shop. Perhaps this was what Blindeye had been talking about the other night. He had too much fun with his powers.

When Alec came back out, they were basically done and ready to get going. Before they could go, the little female barista with the red hair called Alec's name. He walked over and Jace followed.

"Hey, Alec. How ya doing?" She grinned and her smile was nearly contagious.

"I'm fine, Clare. What's up?"

"He would kill me if he knew I was doing this but..." She glanced over at Magnus before leaning across the counter. "Magnus has the biggest crush on you and I know you like him too. So, I'm going to help you both out and invite you to a party he's throwing this weekend." She wrote down an address on a napkin and handed it to Alec. "It starts at seven but I wouldn't get there until eight if I were you." It was only then that she seemed to notice Jace. "You can bring your friend if you'd like."

Alec seemed to stare down the girl. "Will you be there?"

"Depends what's happening that night." She matched his stare. "I know you want to go."

"Parties aren't really my scene."

"But they are mine," Jace cut in and both sets of eyes shot to him. "We'll be at that party." Jace snatched the napkin from Alec's hands with a smirk. He winked to the redhead, then headed out the door. After a moment, Alec was hot on his heels.

"What was that?" Alec demanded as they walked the streets of Brooklin, New York back to their apartment.

"What was what?"

"What was you accepting that party invitation? You've never even met Clary or Magnus before."

"And yet it was so abundantly clear to me that you like Magnus." Jace smiled back at him. "It was cute, you two flirting."

Alec rolled his eyes. He never did know how to handle any sort of potential relationship stuff. "Whatever. As long as Clary is there so I have somebody to talk to. I really hate parties."

Jace threw up his arms. "What am I? Chopped liver?"

"No, you're just a party animal who won't stick around me for longer than five minutes." Alec shrugged. "I remember high school." Jace chuckled. "Anyway, you still up for meeting Izzy? She's off work today."

"Yeah, sure. Let's go meet your little sister."

* * *

Clary jogged through the park with her headphones covering her ears. She came to a stop and took a few deep breaths. It was getting late and the sun had basically set, but all the lights of the city kept the streets bright. And anyway, she was a superhero, what did she have to be scared of? As she was walking the rest of the way home, her eyes widened in surprise and she ducked behind a tree.

What was Badger doing out?

She peeked around the tree and attempted to raise an eyebrow. When she failed, she just continued to watch him. He hadn't texted her and she wasn't aware of any current danger so she was confused. Was he just patrolling? She didn't patrol and she wasn't aware of the fact that he did.

Apparently, Clary had been staring for too long because the superhero in question caught her eye. She pulled herself back completely behind the tree but it was obviously too late. Badger whirled around the edge of the tree just as Clary was considering going invisible.

"What's a girl like you doing out at a time like this?" he asks and there's that stupid charismatic tone in his voice that he uses specifically for the public.

"Are you implying that a girl isn't strong enough to be out by herself at night?" she returned and his face fell a little.

"Uh, no, I just noticed you staring at me and needed a way to say hi." He shrugged and held out his hand. "Guess I should've just gone with hi."

Clary was taken aback. He almost sounded genuine. The keyword was almost. Nonetheless, she held out her hand and shook his. "Hi. Right, well I had been staring just because it doesn't really seem like there's anything going on right now so I was wondering why you were out."

"I tend to walk around at night." He shrugged. "I've found it makes people feel safer."

Bullshit, Clary thought, it had to be absolute bullshit. There was no way she was buying this, not from him of all people. "Oh, I didn't know you did that. Does Blindeye do that too?" She asked it only to keep up her own pretense that she wasn't, well, herself.

He shook his head. "Nah, she doesn't even know I do this. Between you and me, Blindeye can be kind of stuck up."

Clary bit her lip nearly drawing blood as she tried to keep her mouth shut. This was the Badger she knew. Spreading lies about her. She was not stuck up! "Really? I never would've thought. She seems really great."

Badger raised an eyebrow. "You think so? Because for the most part, she doesn't like to be in the public eye. I wouldn't think many people have an opinion on her, especially not a positive one."

Again, Clary bit her lip. "I suppose, but she works really hard and I don't think she should have to be subjected to being some celebrity like that."

At that, Badger smirked and she nearly rolled his eyes. He was really trying to put on the charm now. It made her want to barf. "What? And I don't work hard?"

"I didn't say that," Clary said quickly. And she found that she actually meant it. Sure, he didn't treat being a superhero like he should and he messed around with his powers too much, but he did work hard. He fought all the same battles that she did. And, apparently, he patrolled the streets during the night.

Badger nodded and stayed quiet for a moment. Then, "Want me to walk you home? It's late."

Clary tried to think of a way to say no but every response she could come up with ended up with him denying her and walking her home anyway. After nearly a year, she knew Badger pretty well.

"Sure," Clary said instead. "That'd be... nice." The last word was as strained as her smile.

"After you, red." He gestured before him and Clary froze at the name. Her immediate thought went to him knowing who she really was. Then, she remembered that her hair was red. He called her superhero self red for her suit and he called her red now for her hair. That was all. That was it. A lot of people have called her red in her life for her hair. So then why was she still freaking out about it?

Clary started forward and Badger walked at her side. She thought for a moment and realized that she had never actually asked him why he picked the name Badger. It was so random. At least her name had to do with her powers.

"Why Badger?" she asked. He looked over at her then back forward.

"I never caught your name." A subject change, really?

"Clary," she said, "now, Badger?"

"That's an interesting name," he said instead of answering. Again. "Never heard one like that before."

"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes having heard it all before. "'Oh, wow, Clarissa. What a weird name. Where's it from? Why were you named that? What does it mean?' Now, are you going to answer my question?"

He glances sideways at her. "Honey badgers are known as the most fearless animal on the whole planet."

"That's why you chose that name?"

"Nah, I was kind of put on the spot after that first battle when the press came rushing at Blindeye and myself. Aside from lions and ducks, it was the only animal that came to mind."

"Why did it have to be an animal?" Clary paused then considering the second one he'd said. "And ducks?"

"Well, first, it didn't _have _to be an animal but animals were also the only thing to come to mind. And second, because ducks are truly evil. So evil that they probably have some sort of superpower. They probably work for Black Angel. Or more likely, Black Angel works for the ducks."

Clary couldn't help but laugh at that. She wasn't even going to ask why ducks were evil, it was probably some illogical and incoherent reason.

"I see," she said just as they came upon her building. "Well, this is me. Thanks, Badger. This was an... interesting experience."

The man did a tiny salute with just two fingers. "All in a day's work. Have a nice evening." And with that, he winked and then was gone. And Clary couldn't help but notice her feeling of deja vu from the wink. She shook the feeling off and went inside figuring that Badger winked a lot and that was probably all the feeling was.


	3. Super Villain? More Like Stupid Villain

**I know, I'm already posting chapter three. Shut up and enjoy it. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I kind of feel like this story progresses fast but at the same time, it doesn't? I don't know. Enjoy and review please!**

Blindeye was thrown into the wall and hit the ground with a loud thud. Jace grimaced at the noise imagining how much that must've hurt. He didn't stop to check on her though. Instead, he turned back to Black Angel. At least, he thought this one was the real Black Angel. He was usually pretty bad at telling the copies apart from the real deal- they all had one little flaw on them- and Blindeye could somehow spot the differences from a mile away. She hadn't said anything, so he just assumed it was the real deal. It was always smartest to assume it's the real deal.

Jace watched as the possible Black Angel darted underneath a structure. Jace punched a nearby pillar that was holding it up and the entire thing quickly came tumbling down. It didn't take more than a few seconds though before the villain pushed himself out of the debris relatively unscathed. Likely from a shield he'd put up. The man turned towards Jace and, thrusting one of his arms forward, sent two duplicates of himself towards him. So, this was the real deal then. The copies couldn't make more copies.

The hero pulled out a thin, two-handed sword that stayed strapped to his back. He preferred hand-to-hand combat and thus rarely used it, but with Blindeye injured and Black Angel getting away... well, desperate times call for desperate measures. Easily, Jace swung the sword and connected with the two copies. They both turned to ash within seconds and then he was sprinting after Black Angel again.

As the man left the dark alleyways and entered the crowded streets of New York, Jace noticed the number of civilians parting the way without question. Most looked worried, of course, but this was common by now. In fact, it was odd if there wasn't at least one big fight per week. Jace didn't really like fighting in crowded areas, it meant a higher risk of somebody getting injured, but he did like the publicity. Being in the spotlight was definitely something he had gotten used to over the year.

Black Angel unfolded his wings knocking people over. He leapt from where he stood and soared to the top of some skyscraper. Sighing, Jace took hold of a window sill. He pushed himself up and leapt from window to window. While his powers weren't quite as magical and fancy as Blindeye's or Black Angel's, they were pretty nice. Basically, they consisted of super healing, super strength, super agility, and super hearing. No super sight apparently though because he still couldn't tell the difference between real Black Angels and fake ones. But it was fine, it wasn't like he was salty or anything.

Once he reached the top of the building, Jace looked around for the culprit. The man in question was, as expected, nowhere to be found. He sighed and aggravatedly kicked at the floor beneath him. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Jace just stood there. It was only when he heard a helicopter heading his way that he decided he should get back to Blindeye and make sure she wasn't dead or anything. If she was badly injured it was her fault. She should've had her color aura up, that thing works as a protective shield.

Back at where the fight had started, Jace put a pin on the map in his phone. He looked around until he spotted the girl-shaped dent in a wall and the girl lying beneath it. Squatting beside her, he checked her body for any bad injuries. Her back was scraped and bleeding a little and there was a cut on her forehead. Aside from that, there was nothing he could see due to her suit covering basically her entire body. Jace shook her shoulder a little to try and wake her up. As her eyelids were fluttering open, he noticed her hair turning a pinkish tint.

"Hey, Blindeye." Jace stepped back a bit as she woke more. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," she grunted. Well, that was clearly a lie. "Where's Black Angel?"

"He got away. Come on, we need to get out of here before the entirety of New York swarms the area."

Blindeye managed to sit up but was clearly struggling to get the rest of the way. Jace rolled his eyes knowing that if he offered help she would reject it. So, instead of offering he just grabbed her by her arm and torso and lifted her to her feet. She protested but he ignored it as he walked her a little bit to make sure she hadn't broken anything.

"Do you really think you should be a superhero if you keep getting injured like this?" Jace asked. He knew it was an unfair question but he had to wonder if it was worth it. There was a very serious possibility that she could die someday. The same went for Jace, just at a far lesser level.

"Yes," she snapped unsurprisingly. "And I'll be fine. Just give me a day."

"You'll never be fine because you never get a day. It's fight after fight and if you don't have a chance to heal then it's just going to keep getting worse."

"What do you expect me to do, Badger? Inject your blood into my veins? Ask Black Angel to chill for a minute so I can rest? 'In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.'" She started out of the alleys and Jace scoffed following her.

"Don't you quote Robert Frost at me," he huffed. "Not when I'm trying to be serious."

"I'm trying to be serious too." Blindeye put her hands on her hips and turned to face Jace. In the turn, her hair fell in front of her face. It was then that she noticed it's pinkish color and silently swore to herself before raising her hand to her head and turning it back to solid white. "I can't just stop. We have a mission here."

"To stop Black Angel." Jace rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm aware. But from doing what? We don't even know his plan."

"He'd be a pretty trash villain if we knew his plan." She started walking again and this time Jace noticed the limp. "We're stopping him from killing people and destroying New York. Thanks to him, in the past year over four-hundred innocent people have died and more have been seriously injured. We're stopping him from being a bad guy, is that not good enough for you?"

"Of course it is!" He jogged a little to catch up. "But I can take him on for one day while you take a break."

"No." Just as they came out to the main streets of New York, she said that word. "Just, no."

A camera flashed then and both the superheroes blinked hard from the surprise light. They glanced over to see groups of people that had stopped at their presence. Jace looked back to Blindeye but she had already disappeared and left.

* * *

"If you skip my party tonight I'll kill you," Magnus said from the other side of the phone. Clary pursed her lips as she put the thing on speaker so that she didn't have to hold it.

"I'm going." She rolled her eyes. Currently, she had numerous ice packs (and just free-roaming ice) settled on her back and legs. It was freezing, but she was dealing. "I promise you that I will be there no matter what."

"Would you be willing to come early?"

"Can I bring Simon?"

"Duh."

"Then yes." Clary shifted a little when the ice in certain spots got too cold. "You know what Magnus, I'll see you later _at the party_, but for now I've got to go."

"Alright, talk to you later biscuit."

"Bye." She reached out and hit the end call button before letting her head collapse onto the floor. She grabbed a remote that was nearby and hit a few buttons based off of memory. Some music started playing from the tv and Clary turned it up until it was loud enough to annoy her neighbors. It was like four pm, she didn't care. "Wouldn't it be nice if we were older," she started singing along. Although in reality, it was less of singing and more of screeching. Lying on one's stomach in pain isn't the best way to showcase one's voice. Especially when they had a lack of a nice voice to begin with. "Then we wouldn't have to wait so long. And wouldn't it be nice to live together in the kind of world where we belong? You know it's gonna make it that much better! When we can say goodnight and stay together!"

At that moment, Simon opened the front door and Clary screamed from surprise. She turned her body so that all the ice fell off her and onto the ground. Then, she shoved it all beneath the couch. Simon raised an eyebrow as he walked over to where she sat.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Just living life." Clary shrugged. She looked anywhere but him.

"Why is our entire supply of ice on the floor beside you?"

Clary glanced sideways at all the loose ice that hadn't been swiped under the couch and pursed her lips. "Oh, that's weird. I have no idea." Simon raised his eyebrows with clear concern. For her mental health, that is. "Oh yeah, we're going to Magnus Bane's party tonight."

"Why?" Simon groaned and forgot all about the ice. He continued into the apartment and put away all his things.

"Because I told him we would," Clary replied. She leaned against the back on the couch and removed a piece of ice from beneath her thigh. This was going to be a mess to clean up later. "And because I invited that one guy Alec since he and Magnus are always hitting on each other in Java Jones but both are too scared to ask the other out."

"Magnus isn't scared," Simon shouted back from his room. "He's just waiting. If anything, he has a plan."

Clary nodded knowing he was probably right. Magnus was the type of guy to just be straight forward when he liked someone. And yet with Alec... it was almost like he was some little puppy who'd just been adopted and didn't know what to do with himself. So in other words, he was constantly pissing himself. Theoretically, of course. Clary would be far more concerned if it was literally.

When Simon came back out of his room he was scowling. "What time is the party?"

"We should be there a bit before seven. He wants me there early."

"So then we have time to go out to Taki's?"

Clary glanced over at the clock. "Plenty of time. Wanna go?"

Simon nodded and headed back into his room. Clary dragged herself upward using the couch for help. She looked down at all the ice before deciding that it would be easier when it was all water and she just had to mop it up. Boy was she going to be ruining these floors... oh well, nothing a rug wouldn't be able to fix. When Simon came back out of his room, Clary grabbed her wallet and the two were quickly on their way.

At Taki's, the two discussed Simon's work. He was a reporter for the New York Times. Yes, a much more prestigious job than Clary's barista gig. She was proud of him though, he was good at what he did. A few times Simon had offered to help Clary get hired as a cartoonist but she found it too cliche. The whole superhero working in some way for a news network. Superman, Supergirl, Spider-man... she couldn't think of anymore but she was sure there were tons.

"Anyway," Simon was saying, "everyone was sort of freaking out at the office today because, after the Black Angel fight, Blindeye was walking out with a limp and all these cuts and bruises. Badger was, as usual, not hurt in any way but he even looked pretty concerned himself." Simon paused as he took out his phone and pressed a few buttons. "Here, this is the photo someone got that we're using for the headline tomorrow."

Clary looked up from her food for just a second but then her eyes were stuck on the image of herself. She hadn't realized how bad she had really looked. Today's fight had been a particularly long one and in the end, Clary had just been flung up against a wall. She laid there until it was over. She hadn't been able to move. Now, of course, all those bruises from the picture were expertly covered up with makeup. The cuts all had Neosporin and bandaids over them. Her back was just covered in gauze. And above all, that limp was a bitch to cover up when she walked.

"Looks rough," was all Clary said before taking another bite.

"Tell me about it." Simon tucked his phone away. "I wish I could be there for one of the fights. Get a first-hand view of what really happens."

"There's plenty of videos on YouTube." Clary shrugged. "Watch those."

"It's different when it's in person," he sighed. "I mean, are you telling me you're not even a teensy bit interested in seeing a fight up close?"

Clary thought for a moment. If she wasn't Blindeye if it was someone else, would she be interested? She had never really considered that before. Usually, she was just so wound up in the fact that she was in the battle that she didn't really care what it all looked like. But to see her use her own powers? To turn invisible or change something's color? Yeah, she supposed that would be pretty cool.

"I don't know," Clary said, "it seems really gruesome. I don't know if I'd want to watch someone get pummeled like that."

"Fair enough. Alright, we should probably get going if we're going to make it to Magnus' before seven." Simon ate the last bit of his food and, seeing that Clary was also done, stood ready to go.

When Clary and Simon arrived at Magnus' apartment he was basically already completely set up. So, the trio spent about an hour fighting over the type of music they would play. Eventually, it was settled on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack (and other music from the '80s) based on Clary triumphantly winning the argument. By the time the guests were arriving, Clary's leg and back were feeling worse. She found some Advil and downed a bunch but it only helped a little. She had done enough lying in her life though that it wasn't too difficult for her to pretend that everything was fine. But every chance she got she would lean on a wall or sit down.

After a while, she spotted Alec enter with his blonde friend from the other day and some girl that shared a striking resemblance to him. Clary glanced around for Magnus, when she spotted him basically on the opposite end of the room, she decided to bring Alec to him. It was interesting to Clary that she had become friends with the boy solely because he was a regular in Java Jones. There were tons of regulars at the place, but Alec was one of the few she actually spoke with. At first, they really didn't hit it off, but after a while, they got to talking and became rather good friends.

Clary approached Alec and grabbed his wrist. He was startled momentarily until he saw who it was.

"Come on," Clary shouted over the music. Hungry eyes was playing now. She couldn't think of anything more perfect. Dragging Alec through the room, his other friends were kind of forgotten. But for now, that didn't matter. Once they were close enough, Clary just pushed Alec towards Magnus and hoped for the best. She watched them for a minute until she saw them talk. Then, satisfied, she walked off to join the rest of the party.

Eventually, Clary spotted the golden-boy that had been with Alec. He was just standing around with a drink in hand and she was feeling friendly, so she walked up to him. She stood beside him and although he noticed her immediately he didn't say anything.

"You're Alec's friend," she said.

"Yeah." He nodded. "You're that barista. Clary?"

She smiled widely and held out her hand for him to shake. "Exactly right. I never caught your name though."

"Jace," he answered shaking her hand.

"Jace, nice to meet ya." She didn't know why, but he almost seemed to laugh at what she said. Choosing to ignore that, Clary turned her attention back to Alec and Magnus. "I think they're cute together, don't you?"

He followed her line of sight and furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't know, I haven't really met Magnus. Alec seems rather infatuated though."

"You haven't met Magnus?" Clary asked surprised. "But you're seemingly really good friends with Alec? You know, come to think of it, I've never seen you in Java Jones before. New in town?"

"Eh, I've been here for a year and I used to live here during college. It's just that when I moved back I got really busy and haven't had the chance to do a lot of normal New Yorker stuff."

Clary raised her eyebrows. "That's a shame, I've heard that 'normal New Yorker stuff' is pretty great."

Jace chuckled. "No, I know it is. Like I said, college. It's just been a while."

Clary only nodded in response. She glanced around at the party. Her leg was positively throbbing now and she was using the wall behind her to hold herself up. She spotted the girl that Jace and Alec had come in with and tried to distract herself from her pain.

"Is that Alec's sister?" Clary asked nodding in the raven-haired girl's direction. "Isabelle?"

"Yeah," he said. "Haven't met her?"

"No, but Alec's mentioned her plenty in the past." Despite her brain screaming at her not to, Clary pushed herself off the wall. "I'm going to go talk to her. It was nice meeting you, Jace."

"Likewise," he said and she walked off. She made her way through the crowd with difficulty and was relieved to reach Isabelle. Clary tapped on her shoulder and the girl turned around to face her. She was even prettier up close. Unfair, Clary thought. "Hey, I'm Clary. I'm friends with your older brother."

"Alec?" She sounded surprised. "Oh, nice to meet you. I'm assuming you already know I'm Isabelle?" Clary nodded with a smile. "Whatever my brother has told you about me is completely and totally false, I just want to put that out there now."

Clary laughed. "Gotcha. I never believed that story of you peeing yourself at the park and then pushing a kid off the slide for laughing when you were six anyway."

She hit her hand to her face and groaned. "This is why I have no friends."

"I'm joking," Clary laughed again, "but it is nice to have that story confirmed."

"Yeah, yeah," she sighed. "Well, tell me, Clary, how do you know my big brother?"

"How do I know him or how did we become friends?"

Isabelle shrugged. "Both? Alec's more of a loner than I am so I am very interested in knowing how you two befriended one another."

Clary started telling her the story of him and Magnus and the fact that their very obvious attraction led to her befriending the black-haired, blue-eyed boy as well. The story led to more stories which led to little tidbits and deeper conversations. She even found out that the girl already knew Magnus as well which was weird because Clary had never met her before herself. Still, she found herself actually enjoying speaking with Isabelle. Which was strange only because Clary usually had difficulty being friends with other girls. There was this one girl in high school that Simon had dated, Maia. Clary did her best but in the end, their friendship didn't extend past a greeting when they were in the same room. And hardly that.

The rest of the night was fine, aside from the pain in Clary's leg. She figured it was sprained. She would have to come up with a plan for that later. Obviously, if she kept going out as Blindeye like this she was going to get herself killed for real. She couldn't let Simon know though or else he would start asking questions about how it was sprained. One thing at a time. Everything would be fine.


	4. Pancakes In The Park

"Okay, but just tell me when was the last time you saw a bird that didn't look suspicious," Jace shouted from the other side of the apartment. He was in the kitchen, Alec was in his own room.

"I don't even know what that's supposed to mean," Alec shouted back.

"You know what suspicious means. So, just take a suspicious human and apply that to the birds. Can you tell me that I'm wrong?"

"No, but I also wouldn't be able to tell you if you were right." Alec poked his head out of his room. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Agh!" Jace groaned flipping a pancake. "I've explained this to you like eight times. The birds are government drones. That's why they disappeared during the government shutdown last year. That's why the geese never act suspicious. Because all of the geese are Canadian!"

"Why?" The word was strained for several moments as Alec walked from his room to the bathroom and back to his room.

"Because how else is the government going to spy on us?" Jace dumped the finished pancakes onto a plate and poured more batter onto the pan. "This is widely known information now, Alec. I don't know what's got you so confused."

"What's got me so confused is how I wound up with you for a roommate." Alec exited his room for good and joined Jace in the kitchen. "You make no sense half the time."

"No, the issue is that I make perfect sense. Your mind just isn't advanced enough to fully comprehend everything I say." Jace pointed at Alec with his spatula. "That's the issue."

Alec shook his head and moved on from the subject. "So, why are you making pancakes this morning anyway? You haven't cooked since... well, college. And so many too."

Jace shrugged. "I don't know, I just kind of felt like it."

"Fair enough reasoning." Alec took one of the fresh pancakes from the plate and bit into it. "These aren't half bad either."

Jace grinned. "I know, you don't have to tell me that I'm good at cooking."

"I really should just replace Isabelle with you," Alec said. "You're an upgrade of a sibling really." He paused then and rethought his words. "Well, maybe not an upgrade in _every _aspect. But in cooking, definitely."

"Thank you for the praise," Jace said, "but you should probably be getting to work now. You don't want to be late."

Alec checked the clock then sighed and grabbed a few more pancakes. "You're right. I'll see you later, Jace." With that, he was out the door.

Jace waited a few moments after he was gone and then took out his phone and sent a quick text. He went back to the cabinet and took out the ingredients he had bought today. Alec thought there were a lot of pancakes now... well, there was certainly going to be a lot more later. He packed everything into a duffle bag, changed his clothes, and was soon out the door.

* * *

Clary furrowed her eyebrows at the message.

_From Platypus:  
__Emergency in Central Park  
Get here ASAP_

She looked around and spotted a nearby alleyway. She ran down it before turning herself invisible. She had been on her way to work but was now going to have to text Magnus telling him she would be late. She did so as she stumbled to change into her costume. When she was out of the alleyways, she was running her hand over her hair to turn it white. She rushed to Central Park using her powers to get her there faster. Only, when she arrived, she saw that there was an increasing lack of an emergency.

Clary slowly walked through the park. All around her were people and tables and food. She glanced from side to side. This wasn't normal. Sure, the famous park was usually packed but not like this. When she spotted Badger, Clary stalked up to him making sure the look of confusion and anger on her face was abundantly clear.

"Oh good," the boy said smiling. _Smiling. _"You're here."

"What's going on? I thought you said there was an emergency. Instead, you're standing at an outside grill cooking pancakes at nine in the morning as your superhero self." Clary stepped away from the crowds and closer to Badger in order to avoid the civilians hearing her.

"As opposed to doing this as my civilian self? Well, then I wouldn't be getting all this publicity you see." Clary attempted to walk away, but Badger caught her wrist pulling her back to him. "You keep lecturing me about our duty as superheroes. Now I think it's my turn to show you the other side of being a superhero. Kindness."

"I'm kind."

"Definitely." Badger nodded unconvincingly. "When you need to be. But the rest of the time you're dead focused on one thing and one thing only. Today you're going to be focused on getting good publicity for yourself and giving back to the community that has supported us for the past near year." His gaze was steely on her. "You're not getting out of this."

Clary checked the time on her phone, thought, then sighed. "Fine, I'll stay and help you with whatever it is that you're doing."

"Awesome." He hugged her to him and she froze not having expected that. "And would you at least pretend to be happy to be here? You know, act like you enjoy giving back to the community."

"I do enjoy giving back to the community." Clary scowled. "Just not as Blindeye. Her duty is different than my civilian one."

Badger shrugged looking down at her. "Then just pretend you're your civilian self for the day." Clary nodded. Badger pulled her over to the other side of him where there was room for her to cook pancakes as well. She grimaced.

"I'm going to burn them." She looked up at her partner and he sighed though he was smiling.

"The lack of faith you have in yourself is astounding. Then here, do this." He handed her a stack of pancakes on a plate. "Go around to people and ask them if they want some more. Take pictures if asked and sign autographs. Today is about teaching you to be human."

"When did you get so nice?" Clary asked taking the plate and starting off.

"I've always been like this. You just didn't want to see it."

Clary opened her mouth to say something but then decided against it. She went around the park following Badger's instructions. Most people seemed surprised that Blindeye was out and willingly being photographed. Rightfully so too because Clary rarely allowed herself to be in the media. She was always so worried that someone would recognize her and then Black Angel would know her real identity. That was the number one fear of superheroes in all those movies after all. That was why Simon didn't know who she was. That was why Badger didn't know who she was. That was why she didn't know who Badger was. Well actually, that was a lie.

She knew his first name.

The second month after they'd started their new lives as superheroes, there had been an attack on Times Square. That day Black Angel set his own record for a number of deaths in one day. It hadn't been pretty, but in the end good always triumphs over evil. That day had been no different. It had been difficult but no different.

After everything happened, the two heroes helped clean the city and rescue the people who were lost in the debris. By the time that most of the damage was cleaned off the streets and the construction workers took over, it was well past midnight. Clary was sitting on top of a billboard that wasn't working. She was messing around with the colors of her hair when Badger appeared at her side. He had silently sat a few feet from her and they both watched as the city was repaired in the light of the sunrise.

"So," Badger had said, "I was thinking about something."

"Which was?" By this point in time, the two had established a decent friendship. As far as a friendship could go without knowing each other's true identities that is. But Clary had thought that Badger seemed nice at this point.

"We should know who we are." Her head whipped to look at him as he spoke. "That way we can better protect each other, you know. I mean if we know each other's real identities then we can make sure that we stay safe from Black Angel on and off duty."

"That's insane, we'd just be putting ourselves and our families in danger." Clary stood up shaking her head. "It doesn't matter who we are beneath the mask. We only matter when we're taking on Black Angel and keeping the city safe. We shouldn't focus on each other because that takes away from what we're really supposed to be doing."

Badger stood as well and took a step closer to Clary. "My real name is Jonathon-"

"Stop!" Clary threw up her hand at him and used her powers without really meaning to.

He blinked and shook his head. "What did you just do to me?"

"I may have accidentally made you color blind?" She laughed without humor and then quickly fixed the issue. Once her partner could see normally again, she sighed. "Jonathon is the most common name like ever. So, I'm not going to think much of this. But never do that again. Understood? You're putting both of us at risk by trying to reveal yourself." With that, she had climbed off the billboard and gone home.

And from that day forward, she and Badger weren't anything like friends anymore. That was the day that he started to act like an ass to her and a nice guy to everyone else. She couldn't deny that she was pretty rude to him at times too, but it was just that his presence annoyed her so much. He wasn't ever focused enough. But perhaps she was too focused.

Clary shook her head bringing herself back to the present. The day continued on filled with pancakes and autographs. By the end, Clary was rather exhausted. Not to mention the fact that she'd been on her likely sprained leg all day. She ended up leaning back against a tree near Badger. Apparently out of pancake mix, he turned back to her with a smile.

"What?" She asked when all he did was smile.

"That was good," he said. "You interacting with the public for once. You did good."

Clary nearly rolled her eyes. "I'm just surprised that Black Angel didn't show up to attack us. What with all these cameras and our location being all over the media?" She gestured around. "We've been sitting ducks."

He scowled. "Don't you dare compare me to a duck." Clary fought back a laugh as he continued. "And even if he had shown up, we would've taken care of him easily."

"You say that now," Clary sighed looking down at her leg, "but then I take a wrong step and I'm down for the entire battle while you have to take him on one-on-one. Which would quickly become one-on-fifty with his duplicates."

Badger walked over to her with worry in her eyes. She couldn't help but think that this was what they were like in the first two months of their duo. "You're still hurt?"

"No shit. It takes more than a day to heal." Clary shrugged. "But I'm dealing."

"Are you sure you shouldn't go to a doctor or something? If we do get attacked-"

"I'll be fine," Clary insisted. "Trust me, I've been doing this for almost a year. I'm used to it."

At that, Badger sighed and turned away from his partner. "Alright, whatever you say." And the usual cold tone was back in his voice. She rolled her eyes thinking that he was too sensitive.

"Alright, well." Clary pushed off of the tree. "Playing good samaritan has been fun and all, but I've got to get going. I'll see you later, wombat."

"Yeah, I'll see you, red."

**Sorry this chapter is kind of short and uneventful but it's the start of the restoration of Badger and Blindeye's friendship. I also threw in some backstory. Please review what you thought!**


	5. Who's a Hero?

**Please review and I hope y'all enjoy!**

"Going out with Alec?" Clary asked her friend in a sing-song tone. The shop was closing early today so it wasn't terribly late. She leaned over the counter still in her apron and watched as Magnus brushed himself off and smelled his own breath.

"Perhaps," he replied but the grin on his face gave him away. He strutted back over to Clary. "Or perhaps I'm just dressing up for myself."

"Well, you do you, but..." She walked around the counter to her friend and stood on her tiptoes so that she could reach the one out of place hair. "You looked like a caveman, I just had to fix that."

Magnus laughed. "Thanks, biscuit. What about you? Any plans for tonight?"

Clary's mind immediately went to her alter-ego. It had been several days since that little pancake event and Black Angel had been unnervingly quiet. At least this superhero break allowed for Clary's leg and back to heal.

"Probably not." She shrugged. "You know, the same old. Drawing and watching old movies with Simon."

Magnus shook his head as he pulled on his jacket. "You should really come out with me sometime. We would have fun together."

"I have no doubt, it's just that I tend to be-"

"Busy." He rolled his eyes. "I know. You're always busy doing something or other but you never bother with telling me the details."

"If it helps, I don't tell Simon the details either." She grinned showing all her teeth and Magnus laughed.

"That helps a little but really it just makes me think you have some huge secret." He tugged on his collar setting it just right. "Like you're secretly Blindeye and that's why you always seemed to be injured and you don't show up to work half the time." Clary smiled waiting for Magnus to laugh at the ridiculous idea. Instead, his eyebrows furrowed and he stared off into the distance like he was deep in thought. "You know, now that I think about it it would actually make a lot of sense if you were Blindeye. I mean, you're constantly canceling at last minute and you never want to explain where you've been. Even Simon has told me that you're out at weird hours of the night and return covered in filth."

Clary was doing her best to remain calm and not let her face reveal the truth. Magnus' eyes narrowed further and the silence was killing her now. So, she burst out laughing. Actually bent over with her hands on her stomach. She laughed for about a minute before straightening back up and regaining her composure. Magnus wasn't laughing.

"You can't be serious," Clary exclaimed willing her voice to stay steady. "I'm terrible at hiding things. Don't you think that I would've slipped up if I was Blindeye by now? I mean, she's been around for nearly a year."

"I guess." But he didn't sound sure. Magnus shook his head and finished straightening out his coat. "I've got to get going. I'll talk to you tomorrow, Clare."

"Yup, bye Magnus." Clary waved and smiled. The moment he was out the door, she collapsed into a chair. Her head laid in her hands and her fiery hair hung all around her. She was absolutely screwed. Magnus was sure to figure it out any day now. Simon probably as well. What would she do if one or both of them knew? Of course, she knew that she could trust them both, but could she really? Magnus was a media guru, he tweeted everything. And then Simon literally worked for one of the biggest new papers in the country.

Clary mentally slapped herself for doubting her friends. She could trust them. This wasn't a matter of trust though. This was a matter of safety. Everything was going wrong nowadays.

Just as that last thought crossed Clary's mind, she got a text from the one and only Badger. Black Angel emergency. And she was off.

* * *

After the fight, Clary was in her room bent over her sketchbook. Simon had been dead asleep when she got home thankfully. So now she did something that she didn't often have time to do anymore. While drawing was and would always be her passion, Clary knew that other things had taken over her life and sort of replaced it. She stretched out her left hand absentmindedly as she drew with her right one. Her left hand had been injured earlier in battle, but thankfully it wasn't her dominant so she didn't care too much.

When she finished her drawing, she smiled at it. It was a puppy sitting back with one of his little paws raised. She traced her finger over the lines before sitting back and sighing. Her body was tired but her mind wasn't. It kept on going back to her conversation with Magnus earlier. Flipping to a new page, Clary began sketching out her own costume. When she'd made it it was just a basic design that she hadn't put much thought into. But her one-year hero-aversary was coming up in a few days now and Clary figured why not celebrate with a newly improved suit?

She ended up falling asleep at her desk. She woke to her alarm clock blaring too close to her ear. Jolting up, the piece of paper she'd been drawing on the night before stuck to her cheek. Clary pulled it from her face and shoved it back into her sketchbook so it wouldn't be seen by Simon if he randomly came into her room. The boy in question then opened up her door and poked his head in. For a moment he said nothing, just stared at Clary. Sometimes he really did act like an annoying sibling.

"Can I help you?" Clary eventually gave in and spoke first.

"Nah. I'm just bored."

"You don't have work?" She checked the clock.

"It's Saturday," he said like it was obvious.

"Already?" Simon nodded. "Oh, then what should we do?"

"Well, I actually lied when I just said I was bored." Simon pushed open the door just a tad bit more to reveal who was standing next to him. "Magnus is here."

The glittering man waved. "Hey, biscuit."

"What are you doing here so early?" Clary stood up and instantly grunted. Falling asleep hunched over in a chair was apparently not great for one's back or neck.

"I thought that we could hang out today. You know, since you're always so busy." Magnus grinned cynically and Clary immediately knew that he was up to no good. "You are free today, aren't you?"

Clary glanced from Simon to Magnus and back again. "Yes, I'm free today."

"Great!" Magnus exclaimed clapping his hands together. "Then why don't you get dressed sweetie and the three of us can head out?" Clary could only nod. She bit her lip hard.

When the three were out, Clary couldn't stop her heart from racing. Simon and Magnus were beside her having this perfectly normal conversation, meanwhile, she felt like she was going to explode. Chances were, Magnus didn't even know or really believe that she was Blindeye. It was all just speculation. And even if he did figure it out, what was he going to do if she just continued to deny it? He had no proof and he would never put her in danger by calling her out in public or anything. She had known him for years, he was a true friend. She thought. She hoped? Ugh, why was this tearing her brain apart?!

"What do you think, Clare?" The sudden question caught Clary off guard. She turned to the boys who were both looking at her expectantly. When she only blinked, Simon spoke again. "About the live-action Disney films? What do you think?"

"Oh, right..." She took in a deep breath reminding herself that she wasn't under investigation here. "I don't really think that they're all necessary, but I'm going to see them anyway. Especially Lion King because it's still technically an animated film just realistic. It should be cool."

"Agreed," said Simon and continued rambling on about all the Disney films in theater right now.

When the three ended up at Taki's, Magnus pulled out his phone as the other two were skimming over the menu (which was pointless because they knew everything that was on it). "You guys mind if I invite Alec?"

"Not at all," Simon answered and both him and Clary smiled widely. They were both glad that this relationship had finally started. It was about time.

Magnus smiled too and sent a text. A few moments later, his phone buzzed. "And would you guys mind if Jace and Isabelle joined us as well?"

"Who?" Simon asked.

"His friend and his sister," Clary answered. "Why not? They seemed nice enough." At her response, the three decided to ask for a bigger booth. Once they were settled, Clary put her feet up on the large booth and leaned back against Simon. "Oh yeah, this is the life."

Simon shook his head. "Real classy, Fairchild."

"Taki's doesn't care about class." Clary turned her head uncomfortably to look up at her friend. "Taki's loves me for who I am."

"Yeah, but I'm not loving your feet." Magnus lifted Clary's ankles and then dropped them to the ground. She scowled but sat up.

"Rude. Alec deserves better than you." She made sure the sentence was sarcastic enough and Magnus put a mock hand of hurt over his heart.

"Don't tell him that," another female voice spoke suddenly joining them. It was Isabelle. "He's finally dating again. I can't deal with him single for much longer." As the others laughed, she held out her hand to Simon. "And you are?"

Simon's eyes were wide and he stuttered in his response. "I- I am, umm, Simon. I think." He shook her hand.

"You're right." Clary patted him on the back.

Isabelle smirked. "Nice to meet ya. I'm Alec's older sister."

"That's a lie," Alec said appearing. He slid into the booth and was followed by Jace. "She is my _younger _sister. And I want a lot of emphasis on the _younger_." He raised his eyebrows at the girl daring her to challenge him.

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "I can pretend."

After a little while when they had all ordered, their topic of discussion revolved around work. Clary just sort of listened as the others talked about their far more interesting jobs. Of course, she heard about Simon's job all the time so that was nothing new, but Isabelle worked for Ralph Lauren. Clary had smiled at that.

"What, like Rachel from Friends?" she wondered aloud.

Izzy almost looked ashamed though she was smiling too. "Is it lame to admit that when I was a kid I always wanted to be Rachel Greene?"

"No." Clary shook her head laughing. "I always dreamt of being like Monica."

"You want to be a chef?" Jace asked.

Again, Clary shook her head. "No, I just wanted to be successful in something that I loved."

"If you worked with me at the Times then you would be," Simon muttered and then took a sip of his drink and looked away from Clary innocently.

"Clare, what's he talking about?" Magnus nudged her with his elbow.

"Nothing." Clary took a bite of her food trying to avoid this conversation. She'd already had it with Simon a million times, she didn't need to have it with Magnus and Alec.

"I've offered to get Clary a job as a cartoonist at the New York Times," Simon said spilling the beans. Clary pursed her lips, her face deadpanned. "She turns me down every time."

"Clary that would be an amazing job for you," Alec exclaimed. "Why don't you take it?"

Clary stuttered avoiding eye contact with everyone at the table. "Reasons."

"I need a better answer than that," Magnus said.

"Just reasons," Clary repeated, "and I'd really prefer not to get into them right now."

Alec and Magnus looked up at Simon probably for support but he only shrugged. He'd gone through this enough to know not to argue back. Before they could get their conversation back on track though, Jace suddenly exhaled and grabbed his head. He pressed his palm against his forehead and shut his eyes tight.

"Hey." Alec put a hand on his friend's back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He waved the other boy away with his free hand. "Just a headache." He lifted his head back up and raised an eyebrow at Isabelle. "Did you just say something?"

She shook her head slowly. "No."

"Huh." Concern was written across Jace's face as well as something else that Clary couldn't quite put her finger on. She recognized the concern though because everyone else had the same expression. "I should probably get back to the apartment." He stood up so abruptly that he bumped the table. Jace blinked and his eyes went wide. Then, he furrowed his eyebrows. "I'll see you guys later." With that, he left. Kind of clumsily.

"That was weird," Simon said breaking the silence, "right?"

"Yeah." Alec nodded. "Yeah, that was pretty weird."


	6. Right, I'm a Hero

**Double update because they're both short and they kind of go together. Please review!**

Jace wore his costume and paced back and forth on the rooftop of a skyscraper. He had to stop walking when his head pounded again and noises started coming at him from every which direction. He had gone up this far in order to avoid hearing things. His enhanced hearing only reached so far, and only when he wanted it to, but it seemed that it was becoming stronger. Or something like that. No matter what it was, it was painful.

His agility and coordination were a little off as well. Jace had bumped into numerous things on his way to the skyscraper. And when he was climbing he found that it was difficult. Not because he didn't have the ability to scale the building anymore, but rather because he had been going faster than he was used to. His eyes played a factor as well. Every now and then the world would shake.

Jace walked to the edge of the rooftop and sat down. He'd been up there for a few hours now. It was the middle of the day and the sun was beating down on his face. He closed his eyes and his headache began to dissipate. Sighing, he opened his eyes back up. Just as he did so, a figure with large black wings flew straight at him. Jace leaned back barely in time. He stood up and looked around. The thing landed on the other side of the roof. Black Angel. Quickly, Jace studied over the thing's features trying to find something that was off.

"Stop wasting your time," the man said and it startled Jace. They hardly got to speak with Black Angel. Usually, it was just a hand-to-hand fight. Their villain wasn't a man of many words. Until now, that is. "I'm the real one."

"What do you want?" Jace questioned. He felt for his phone in his pocket but when Black Angel raised an eyebrow at his searching hand, he stopped.

"Do you remember how you got your powers?" Angel asked instead of answering Jace.

"No," he answered honestly, "I just know that I woke up in the hospital and suddenly everything was... different. Same goes for Blindeye if you wanted to know."

"It had to do with pure coincidence really," Angel said and Jace realized that the man was claiming he knew how they had gotten their powers. "Just a girl in the wrong place at the wrong time and a boy headed to the wrong address... at the wrong time." He shrugged. "You were never supposed to get those powers. My father was."

"Your... father?" Jace was nearly giddy. He was finally about to get the reasoning behind why Black Angel was their villain. Was this his origin story? Was this all of their origin stories? He'd been waiting forever to know these.

"Yes, my father," he snapped. "He had lethal cancer and that machine was supposed to not only cure him but give him extraordinary powers so that he would be able to survive any problem that came his way."

"He died," Jace guessed.

Angel only glared. "You and your stupid little partner got in the way of my father becoming the most incredible being on the planet. Every enhancement and power that you are experiencing and will continue to experience was supposed to be his."

Jace thought about those words. Were his powers evolving even now? Even within him? Is that what was happening with his headaches? "What about Blindeye? Her powers aren't like mine."

"She was affected _with _something. I don't know what. She has color manipulation so I would guess probably coloring supplies. Simple as that."

Jace furrowed his eyebrows. It was only then that he thought about what Blindeye would say to him if she knew he was standing here just talking with the enemy. So, he took a few steps forward trying to act casual. "So, then what's your plan, Black Angel? Why are you attacking us and New York?"

"Those powers don't belong to you two. If I can't simply remove them from you then I will kill you." At that, Jace's hand went to the sword on his back. "Relax." Black Angel's hands went up. "I'm not harming you just yet because I need you to deliver a message to Blindeye for me."

Jace released the sword and brought his hand back to his side. "What is it?"

* * *

Clary waited for Badger in their normal meeting spot. It was the roof of a medium-sized building that overlooked Central Park. After their first battle against Black Angel, they had introduced themselves to one another here. As she waited, Clary inspected her outfit. She thought to the changes that she'd drawn last night and imagined them actually on her. Most looked good, but some would have to be fixed.

"Hey." Badger walked over to her then. He almost looked sullen.

"Hey, what's up? You said it was an emergency."

Badger nodded not meeting Clary's eye. Then, he looked up and handed her a piece of paper. She raised her eyebrows and looked down at it. It was an address and then instructions. "You'll never guess who I got the pleasure of talking to today." She turned her gaze up to meet the boy's eye. "Black Angel." Clary's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. Badger chuckled. "Close your mouth, red. You'll catch flies." He pointed to the paper. "He told me to tell you to go here. Said you can bring with you whoever you want, that it's not a trap or anything. Just something you need to know. He also..."

"Also what?"

"He knows how we got our powers." Clary could hardly believe what she was hearing. She inquired all about what happened and Badger willingly told her every detail. There were parts that still didn't make sense. Like why was he attacking all of New York and not just going after Blindeye and Badger? But for the most part, this explanation cleared up a lot.

"Well, then I guess we'd better get going." Clary held up the piece of paper and started forward. Badger caught her arm.

"Do you want me to come with?" he asked.

Clary shrugged and nodded. "Why not?"

The two went to the exact address together in silence. When they got there, Clary had to double-check that they were in the right place. It was a cemetery. Confused but determined, she walked in and felt Badger close on her heels. She couldn't imagine how strange it might look to someone walking by: two superheroes casually strolling into a cemetery together. It certainly felt strange. Clary followed the instructions which placed her in front of a particular gravestone. She folded the piece of paper, shoved it in her pocket, looked up, and then froze.

"Huh," Badger said staring down at the same gravestone. "Who is that?" He squatted down in front of it to read the letters better. But they were rather new and clear. Clary didn't need to get a closer look.

"Oh my god," she whispered. Tears were threatening to spill over her cheeks then. But not necessarily because of the person that was dead. Because of what it meant that Black Angel had sent her here.

"Blindeye?" Badger stood back up. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, what is it?"

"He knows." She didn't even try to keep her voice even. She was screwed.

"He knows what? Blindeye who is that?"

"He knows who I really am." Clary's hand went up to her face. But how? How could he know? She was so safe and cautious about it. "Valentine Morgenstern." Her voice was less than a whisper now. "Died nearly a year ago." She felt dizzy.

"Blindeye." Badger stood in front of her and put his face in front of hers. He waved one of his hands trying to get her attention but she was stuck.

She blinked and felt that there were tears running down her cheeks. Breaking out of her trance, she pulled herself out of Badger's grip and wiped at her face. She spun on her heel and started to leave. "That was a man I knew when I was child," Clary explained in a partial truth. She couldn't exactly tell him that it was her father. That would be giving too much away. "I don't know how Black Angel knew of my connection to him, but he clearly knows exactly who I am." She sniffled. "He could hurt my friends or my family. This is why I didn't want us sharing our identities."

"But we never did share our identities." Badger grabbed her shoulder stopping her.

"I know." She was on the verge of sobbing. "So I don't understand how he knows who I am!"

Worry and sympathy covered Badger's face as he looked down at her. Clary knew that she probably looked pathetic just then. What kind of superhero cried like this? She tried to suck it back up but Badger pulled her towards him first in a tight hug. Her immediate reaction was to freeze. This was highly unexpected. But it felt nice. And for that reason, Clary ended up returning the hug. As soon as she did, the tears came harder and she had to bury her face in Badger's shoulder in order to keep herself from completely breaking. He rubbed her back a little and it actually helped to calm her.

After a few minutes, Clary pulled away. She didn't meet Badger's eye. "I should go home," she said, "I need to tell my roommate what I've discovered about... Valentine."

"Are you going to tell him who you are? It might help keep him safe now that Black Angel already knows. At least if he knew then he could be prepared for anything."

Clary shook her head. "I don't know. I really don't know. I just need to get home for now." She turned and left. After a few feet, Clary broke out into a jog and she ended up running all the way home. She turned herself invisible at some point and just sprinted through the crowds. She made it all the way up to her apartment still invisible and still in costume.

Clary collapsed onto the floor of her living room. She wasn't thinking anymore. She was just tired and frustrated and scared. Simon's door opened and he came out.

"Clary? Was that you?" He almost stepped on her invisible body and just as he passed her, she let herself reappear. Simon screamed.

Pulling herself into a sitting position, Clary didn't even try to fight the tears anymore. She ran a hand over her hair turning its color back to normal. Then, she tore the mask from her face and tossed it to the side. Simon just stood there wide-eyed and silent.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Clary croaked out. "For the sake of all that is good, it doesn't matter if you know anymore because he knows who I am!" She grabbed at her own hair and let her head fall down towards her knees which were now pulled up to her chest. "I did everything right. I had people to protect and I thought I was doing a good job at it. Apparently, I was wrong." At that, Simon lowered himself onto the floor and sat beside Clary. "Si, my dad is dead. He died almost a year ago. I haven't talked to him since I was eight so I don't really care it's just... Black Angel _knows _he was my dad. He knows who I am." The tears started flowing again and Simon wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry I lied to you for so long."

"Don't be," Simon said. "I'm not mad that you didn't tell me. Especially since you actually did tell me at one point and I just kind of laughed at you." Clary chuckled through the tears. "What does it mean that he knows who you are? How did he find out?"

"I don't know." Clary shook her head. "And I don't know. I just feel really broken right now."

"Understandable." He rubbed her arm with his hand and squeezed her tighter to him. After a few minutes of silence, when Clary's tears had mostly subsided, he spoke again. "So, is this why you didn't want to work for the paper?" Clary laughed. "Because I totally get it then. I mean that would've been stupid cliche."

"You can't tell anyone," Clary said. She had stopped crying and now just felt empty. And lightheaded, she would need to get a glass of water. "Promise me."

"That's not even a question," Simon said. "I promise that I will never tell a soul about this. I would never."

"I know." Clary rubbed her hand over the fabric covering her body.

"I gotta ask," Simon sighed, "do you know who Badger is?"

"Simon!"

"I'm sorry! I'm just curious. You know me."

Clary shook her head but smiled. "But no, I don't know who he is and he still doesn't know who I am. It's probably best it stays that way."


	7. Wanna Hang Out?

Jace sat in Java Jones a few days after the cemetery incident. Alec had been right in that this place had good coffee. But that wasn't why he was there. He was there on a much more important mission. Throughout the past few days, he'd begun to realize something about his powers and today he was going to try and test it. Just like he could control who he was "overhearing," Jace was now going to attempt to control whose mind he could read. Well, he was going to be seeing if he could actually do it in the first place. Recently, he'd noticed that he would hear Alec say something and then when he asked him to repeat himself, the other boy would say that he hadn't said anything. Needless to say, it was kind of trippy.

So now he stared intensely at different people as they walked by or sat. He did his best to focus not quite on what they were saying outside but rather what they were saying inside. It wasn't really working too well. Jace was staring at this one person so hard that he didn't even notice when someone sat in the chair beside him.

"You know you're being a little creepy." He nearly jumped out of his own skin when Clary spoke. Jace looked over at her and she was smirking. "Scare ya?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "You did."

She shrugged. "Well, that's what you get for staring at people. I mean honestly, someone might think you want to kill them with the way you're watching people."

"Sorry, I was just trying to test something."

"What?"

He opened his mouth trying to come up with some explanation but couldn't think of anything. "Nothing important."

"If you say so." Clary didn't speak again but Jace only knew this because her mouth didn't move from what he heard next. _God,_ w_hat I wouldn't give to draw him, he's actually the perfect specimen._ Jace's eyebrows shot up and Clary furrowed hers. "What's wrong?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. He couldn't believe that it had worked. Of course, it worked when he wasn't _trying _to make it work. That was going to make this whole thing way more complicated. Still, he needed to tell Blindeye about this. "Absolutely nothing." Jace stood up quickly grabbing his things. "I need to go. I'll see you later." With that, he sprinted from the building leaving behind a very confused Clary.

Once he was outside, he started heading for someplace to change. As he walked, he texted Blindeye.

_From Badger:  
Hey, I need to talk to you_

_From Color Freak:  
Is it an emergency?_

_From Badger:  
No, but it is important_

_From Color Freak:  
Well, I'm at work  
Can it wait?_

_From Badger:  
Lame  
Pleeeaaase  
You wanna hear this.  
I promise_

_From Color Freak:  
Fine. Give me half an hour  
Meet at the usual spot_

Jace put his phone away and started towards their meeting place. He bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly as he waited for his partner to arrive. When she finally arrived, Blindeye looked annoyed. Then again, when did she not look annoyed?

"What's up?" Blindeye said as she approached him.

"I have telepathy," Jace announced. Blindeye didn't look convinced. Her expression didn't change at all.

"Really?" He nodded. "Prove it."

"I can't." He knew how that sounded. Like he didn't have telepathy. But he didn't know how to control it yet. "I can't turn it on and off at will. Not yet. It's probably going to take me a little while to figure out like my superhearing did."

"So." Blindeye clasped her hands together and pursed her lips. "Basically, you called me away from my job in order to tell me that you have a new power that you can't even control aka use yet? Great." She began to leave.

"Blindeye, hold on." Jace ran over to her. "Are you okay? It's been a couple of days since we last spoke."

"I'm aware, and I'm fine." She ran a hand through her hair. "I ended up telling my friend. I know you were wondering about that. And I was thinking-" She cut herself off abruptly after adding the last part. She hesitated, then continued. "If what Black Angel told us was true- knowing how we got our powers and all that- then wouldn't that mean he knows your identity too?"

Jace hadn't thought of that. He furrowed his eyebrows in concern. "Oh, yeah I guess you're right. Why hasn't he tried attacking our regular selves do you think?"

"That's the part that I'm still trying to figure out. None of it makes much sense, but that's life I guess." She offered a weak smile. "Anyway, I really should be getting back now."

"Before you go, what do you say to us celebrating our hero-aversary?" Jace took a couple of steps forward. "Like actually celebrate. We deserve it, don't you think?"

"We do." She nodded. "And I think that the city is already planning a party for us. Besides, what would we do? It's not like we could go out anywhere together in our costumes without the rest of the city following our every move."

"You make several good points." He smiled. "But I had an idea. Go on and head back to work."

Blindeye paused this time before leaving. Then, she smiled back and climbed down from the roof. Jace sighed running his hands through his hair. Half the time he wished he knew what she was thinking. They didn't get along usually and he knew that he pushed her buttons. He didn't usually care. But now everything was feeling different. He didn't know why. Maybe he was finally ready to put aside his old grudge from when she didn't want to share their secret identities with each other. Yes, he knew it was stupid but he'd never been able to get over that.

Rolling his eyes at himself, Jace went back to the streets of Brooklin and changed into his normal self. He was wondering what to do with the rest of his day when he thought back to the morning at Java Jones. He hadn't really thought of it then because he'd been focusing on something else, but now he was remembering what Clary had thought of him. She really called him the perfect specimen. Not that he wasn't used to compliments similar to that, but this one felt strangely good. Probably because she'd wanted to draw him. He didn't think he'd ever had someone want to just draw him before.

With these thoughts on his mind, he went back to Java Jones. Magnus was at the counter now and Jace looked around for Clary. He didn't spot her immediately and furrowed his eyebrows feeling a little disappointed. He walked up to the counter anyway and greeted the glittering man he'd recently met.

"Hello, Magnus."

The man looked up at Jace. "Ah, Jonathon. Nice to see you."

Jace furrowed his eyebrows. "Did Alec tell you my real name?" His only response was a smirk. "Rude."

Magnus shrugged. "He's told me a lot about you, Jonathon. You don't want to know what I know."

Jace grimaced. "You're probably right. Though I'm sure that you didn't want to know what you now know either."

"No." Magnus pursed his lips. "I thought I did at the moment, but the stories Alec has shared are scarring."

"Try being the one that lived the stories."

He laughed. "Eh, I've done worst things that those stories. It's just different to... hear them rather than live them. There's something about committing an act that just changes everything."

Jace nodded in agreement. "You know what, Magnus? I have a feeling we would've gotten along very well in college."

"Oh, I'm sure."

Clary came out of a backroom and was tying her apron back around her waist. When she looked up and spotted Jace, she looked surprised.

"Oh, you're back," she said as she stood at Magnus' side.

"I can feel the love from here," Jace deadpanned.

"No, sorry. I didn't mean it like that." She shook her head as she finished tying the knot. "I thought you left is all."

"And now I'm back, got a problem with that, red?"

The girl smirked leaning her elbow on the counter. "Not particularly. It's just that you are usually accompanied by dear Alec. Where is he?"

"Work? I don't know. It doesn't matter though because I am my own independent person who don't need no man." Jace puffed out his chest and huffed trying to showcase what he'd just said.

Clary laughed. "Sure, you are, darling. Keep thinking that."

"He's right though," Magnus spoke not really paying too much attention to the two, "because he don't need _my _man." Now, both Clary and Jace laughed.

"I was thinking though," Jace said after a few moments. Clary raised her eyebrows looking up at him. "I've been here about a year now and my only friend is Alec. You want to hang out sometime?" He held back a smirk when her eyes went wide and her entire body froze. She probably had a bit of a crush on him- he figured this based off of the thought he'd heard from her earlier- and it was interesting because the idea of her liking him made his heart race. Even Magnus slowly turned to look back at Clary and she must've sensed this because she kicked his shin without even looking.

"Sure," she squeaked, "why not."

Jace grinned and rapped his fingers against the counter once. "Great." Saying nothing else, he turned and left.

_Huh_, he thought to himself, _I'm actually... excited about this?_

* * *

"Simon!" Clary called as she entered their apartment. When there was no reply, she tried again. This time, louder. "SIMON!"

"What!" The boy in question stumbled from the hall leading to their rooms. He had bedhead.

"Were you taking a nap?" She put her hands on her hips.

"Maybe." He narrowed his eyes at her. "What's it to ya?"

Clary shrugged as she walked to the counter and casually set down her things. "Nothing. I was just going to tell you something but if you're too tired it can wait."

"No," Simon whined, "no, I want to know. What is it?" Clary just shook her head. "Clary pleeease. What? I promise I'm not tired. Pretty please with a cherry on top. Please, please, please."

At his excessive begging, she broke out into a smile. "Okay, fine. I just wanted you to beg." He rolled his eyes but let her proceed. "So, apparently Badger has telepathy now."

Simon's jaw dropped. It had been a few days of Simon knowing his best friend's secret and Clary thought that it hadn't completely sunk in yet. Probably the next time she came home covered in cuts and bruises it would really hit him that this was her life. They didn't talk about it though. Not in depth. It was more so just the occasional brush over of the topic when it would randomly come up.

"Seriously?"

"Well, I don't know for sure yet," Clary continued, "because he can't control it. But that's what he told me."

"That's so cool." Simon's look of awe was replaced by one of excitement and ideas. "If he can control it then he could read Black Angel's mind and figure out who he really is." Simon was saying something else now, but Clary tuned out. She was too focused on the point he brought up.

Because if Badger could figure out Black Angel's identity...

Then he could figure out hers.

**Hope y'all liked this chapter! Please review!**


	8. Wait, You're Who?

"And why is this such a pressing issue?" Alec asked the raven-haired girl that stood before him. She wore a bright pink crop top and white shorts. Her arms were crossed in front of her body.

"Because," Isabelle started, her voice bitter, "I am getting old, Alexander, and I need to find love soon or my uterus will shrivel up and fall out of my body."

"Does that... does that happen?" Jace's voice was a near whisper and full of concern. He had been smiling at the conversation but was now more confused than anything.

"No," Isabelle snapped and he jumped back. "Of course my uterus isn't going to_ fall out of my body_, Jace! Don't be stupid." She sighed aggressively and dropped her arms to her side. "But all my eggs will dry up and I'm not going to be able to have any children. I need love now, Alec!"

The older boy stayed silent. He clearly didn't know what to say. Neither did Jace, to be fair. This wasn't an issue that either of them had ever really thought about considering that they didn't have to worry about their eggs going bad. Being a girl was fun, it seemed.

"Well," Alec finally said slowly. "Join a dating website."

"Join tinder!" Jace piped up with excessive enthusiasm immediately after Alec spoke. Isabelle's glare fell on him. They had only known each other for a short while now and this was definitely the most serious conversation they'd ever had. Clearly, Jace was doing fabulously.

"I already have a tinder," she said her voice oddly calm considering the look of anger on her face. "And anyway, tinder is for hookups. Not life long love connections. Once again, Jace, don't be stupid." This time, she whacked his head when she said stupid. He furrowed his eyebrows but stayed silent.

"I still don't know why you've come to me with this issue," said Alec ignoring Isabelle's abuse towards his friend. "Go to a girl. Go to Clary! You know, the redhead that Magnus works with. You met her the other day, you two seemed to hit it off."

Isabelle seemed to consider this for a moment before holding out her hand expectantly. "Give me her phone number." Alec did just so, handing over his phone. Once Izzy had this information, she turned and began to leave the apartment. As she was reaching the door, Alec spoke.

"One more thing, Iz. Are you on your period right now?"

Without turning around and as she closed the door behind her, she called back. "Yup."

Jace shook his head once the two were finally in silence again. It wasn't even eight am and that girl had barrelled into their apartment screaming at them. She seemed nice, if not a little crazy at times, and Jace liked her. She and Alec were as close as him and Jace were and that was great. Jace had never had siblings before so he didn't know what it could be like to have one. If he had had a sibling he would've wanted the relationship that Alec has with his.

"She always starts freaking out about her future during her periods," Alec stated as he headed towards the kitchen. He put on a pot of coffee. "Usually not so early in the morning though."

Jace shook his head. "She's wild, I tell ya."

Alec chuckled but before he could say anything, a door opened from within the apartment. Jace furrowed his eyebrows confused. After Izzy left he thought it was just the two of them. His confusion was put at bay though when none other than Magnus Bane entered the living area with bed head and no shirt. The man yawned, scratching his head, before freezing when he spotted the other two in the kitchen. Slowly, Jace turned to Alec with a raised eyebrow but the other boy was avoiding his gaze, a tint of pink covering his cheeks.

"Oh, I didn't realize you were both out here," Magnus said clearing his throat. He sounded groggy from sleep too. And perhaps other things.

"Yes," said Jace not able to hide the smile from his voice. "Nor I, you."

Magnus nodded his head slowly. "Right, well. I guess I'll be going then. Clary is probably... you know, wondering where I'm at..." He started towards the door.

"Magnus wait!" Jace called and the man turned back around, eyebrows raised expectantly. "Your shirt." He pointed at his bare chest and now Magnus' face was flushed as well.

Alec pointed towards the couch and Magnus grabbed a shirt off of it. Jace narrowed his eyes as he pulled it on and left. Once the door was closed, he turned back to Alec.

"Did you two have sex on the couch?" When there was no reply, he grimaced. "Where else?" Silence... "Where, Alec?"

Alec pursed his lips. "It seems you already know where..."

Jace whacked his roommate while trying to keep his laughter down. "Don't quote the office at me. Answer the question, damn you."

"A lot of places," Alec answered and his voice was strained. "You really don't want to know."

_If I could just read his mind_, Jace thought, _then I could know and then I could avoid those places for the rest of my freaking life._

"Fine," he said out loud, "then I will be calling a cleaning crew and leaving the apartment for several hours. I will see you in the afternoon, Alexander."

He left the apartment with the intention of heading to Java Jones. Instead, he transformed into his superhuman self and starting strolling along the rooftops of New York. At some point, he spotted a bright red head rushing amongst the crowds. He grinned to himself before leaping down from a building and landing just beside the girl. She yelped at his sudden presence and the other people in the area all stopped to gaze at Jace in amazement and take photos.

"What's up, red?" He smirked to her as she continued walking down and he strolled by her side. He ignored the people trying to get his attention. Honestly, Clary was more interesting.

"Nothing," she said not really looking at him. "Just that I'm late to work. _Again_. My coworker/friend, Magnus, is going to positively kill me."

Jace held back a laugh. "You know, I actually have a feeling that you'll be alright."

She glanced sideways at him and was smiling. "Yeah, we'll see about that."

"So, red, what were you doing that's made you late to work anyway? Had a hot date last night that just wouldn't leave?" He nudged her with his elbow. On the one hand, he was joking. On the other hand, he was curious.

"Absolutely not," Clary scoffed and then she cleared her throat. "I mean, I could have if I had wanted to but I'm not that kind of a girl. But I could have!"

Jace raised an eyebrow. Clearly, she didn't want him thinking she was single by anything but choice but she also didn't want him thinking she was slutty. Interesting, Jace thought, and he wondered why she cared so much what he thought. He was just some superhero that enjoyed randomly talking to her. Mainly because she didn't know that they actually knew each other.

_Good one Clary. _The voice came real suddenly and it startled Jace. It only took him a half-second to realize his telepathy had kicked in and he was hearing her thoughts. _He doesn't know you're Blindeye so you don't need to try to prove yourself to him at the moment! Chill the fuck out and be normal, lord._

Jace froze. Actually froze. As in stopped walking, breathing, blinking, and his heart may have skipped a beat as well. Had he heard that right? He couldn't have heard that right. Yeah, but he was pretty sure he heard that right. But then that meant... Clary was Blindeye? There was just no way in hell.

Clary noticed that Jace had stopped and she turned back to him. She cocked her head at his frigid body. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Too high an octave... "I just... overheard some guy beating up his girlfriend about two miles that way. I should go and take care of that. See you!" He chuckled awkwardly before sprinting away from the girl and the streets.

It should've surprised him less, he supposed as he climbed back up a building and leaped from roof to roof. After all, she had looked familiar when they first met. And according to her friends, she was often late or absent to things. That's usually a sign that someone's a superhero in tv shows and movies. Jace slowed his running to a walk until he eventually stopped and put his hands on his hips. It was strange too because Clary and Blindeye weren't very much alike when it came to communication. Clary was more fun and seemed to enjoy talking to Jace. Blindeye... well she tended to be a stuck up bitch at times but Jace knew that was sometimes his fault.

Well, this changed a lot now. Jace didn't know how he was supposed to act around her as a superhero or a civilian. And all of a sudden the nickname he used for both of them seemed just too coincidental. This was perfect timing too considering that their one-year hero-aversary was tomorrow. Yup... perfect.

* * *

Clary had been surprised to get a text from Isabelle. Not because they had only just met the other day but rather because she had no idea how she got her phone number. Nonetheless, she seemed sweet and they texted for a bit before Clary _really _had to start working. It was around noon now and the raven-haired beauty sat at the counter in Java Jones and sipped on a cappuccino as she scrolled through social media feed. Any time that they didn't have a customer, Magnus and Clary would talk to her.

"Honestly," Izzy was saying, "if I were to adopt an animal from the zoo it would be the red panda."

"I feel like I'd adopt some type of fox," Clary said thoughtfully.

"Rhino," Magnus said and both girls looked at him. That was not the animal they would've expected. He shrugged. "I like rhinos. You wanna fight me about it?"

"No." Clary put her hands up. "No, I do not." She walked away from the conversation as a new customer approached the counter. After taking and preparing their order, Clary returned to her friends to find that the topic had changed drastically from mere animal adoption.

"Double date then?" Magnus held out his hands in a questioning way. "I mean, I'd be down but I don't think Alec would enjoy the idea too much."

Izzy waved a dismissive hand. "His room was next to mine when we were growing up. He used to hear me when I had guys over all the time. A double date is nothing."

"What did I walk into?" Clary asked.

"I need a boyfriend," Izzy sighed in response. "So, I'm going out with Magnus."

Clary shook her head, smiling. "None of this is adding up."

"What she means." Magnus ruffled the other girl's hair a little. "Is that she wants me to set her up with someone. Hey, what about your brother's friend? Jace? You two are about the same level of attractiveness."

Isabelle shrugged and Clary's heart hurt a little bit. She wasn't sure why but she kept thinking back to when Jace told her they should hang out sometime. He was cute, after all, so she wouldn't be surprised to realize she had a bit of a crush on him. But they'd only just met.

"Nah," Isabelle said and relief immediately flooded through Clary's body. "He is hot but he's just not my type. Plus, I don't think Alec would much appreciate me dating his best friend. Not after what happened last time..." She grimaced and took a sip of her drink.

"Anywho," said Magnus slowly. "It's probably for the best that you think that because he was _definitely _hitting on Clary the other day."

"Really?" Isabelle turned to Clary with a large grin and interrogative eyes. "Tell me more."

"He was not," Clary said and she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Liar!" Izzy exclaimed. "She touched her face! She's lying!"

"I am not!"

"No, she is." Magnus nodded. "I was there when he did it. He literally said, and I quote, 'you want to hang out sometime?'"

Isabelle's jaw dropped. "He totally asked you out."

"No, he didn't!" Clary turned away from the two and tried to busy herself with cleaning the machines. "And anyway, we don't even have each other's phone numbers so his offer to hang out basically means nothing."

"I have his number." Isabelle immediately held her phone out to Clary. She and Magnus just stared at the redhead until she rolled her eyes and snatched the phone.

"Fine, I'll put his number in my phone and I'll text him later today after my shift if only to get you two off my back." Clary ignored their ecstatic faces as she went to add a new contact. After putting in the number, though, her phone informed her that she already had that person as a contact. Confused, she went to all her contacts and searched up the number to see who it was. Even more confused, Badger's name popped up.

"What's wrong?" Magnus asked and Clary's look of confusion.

"Are you sure this is his phone number?" Clary asked turning to Isabelle.

She nodded. "Yeah, I've talked to him a few times through it. Why?"

"No reason." Clary handed back the phone and shook her head. "I just typed it in wrong at first. Now, I should get back to work." She did her best to smile at the two before turning away from them. She felt weak and dizzy.

Jace was Badger?


	9. Happy Hero-Aversary

**Hopefully, this chapter being longer makes up for the last one being shorter. I hope y'all like it and please review!**

Clary stood in Simon's room. It was about four am but that didn't mean she didn't have the right to be mad at him for still being asleep. She raised her hand and a ball of light appeared. She threw it and it hit the boy square in the face. He startled awake clearly confused.

"What the hell just was that?" He was squinting. "And why is everything so damn bright?"

"That'll go away in a minute." Clary waved a dismissive hand. "But it's my hero-aversary and I need your opinion on something."

"Well, I'd love to give it if I could _see_!" Simon crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. "I don't like this at all."

"Imagine how the bad guys feel when they get smacked in the face with a big ol' wad of light." She grinned and so did Simon. He blinked hard a few more times and then seemed to be able to see normally again. "You good?"

"Yeah, turn on my light already would ya?"

"Okay, but just be prepared for what you're about to see." Clary was in her Blindeye costume. Only now it was her new and improved Blindeye costume. She planned to display it to the world today. She flipped on the light switch and the room was lit. Simon's eyes went wide when he saw Clary. He pushed his blankets aside and stood up from his bed.

"Holy shit, you look amazing. Like the most badass superhero ever."

This brought a smile to her face. The new suit was no longer just red and gold. Now, it had black too. The boots, for one, were completely black and connected to the rest of her suit so that they blended together. There were no sleeves on his one, but she did have black fingerless gloves that crisscrossed over her wrists. The gold X that had been over her abdomen was still there except now it connected into more Xs that led up to the base of her throat where a strip of black ended the costume. Her mask was the highlight though. It was red and outlined in gold and the eye holes were covered in a white fabric that Clary could see out of but nobody could see into- kind of like Spider-Man, at least that was her inspiration. Her hair too had changed, instead of it all being white it was now a white-black ombre.

"You look hot, no lie."

"Thank you, Simon." Clary looked down at herself. She did like the suit.

"You should've made one for Badger too. Could've been like your hero-aversary present." He chuckled.

"I, umm, did." She turned away from him scratching her head.

Simon raised an eyebrow. "Clare? What's the matter?" She shook her head and he walked closer. "Clary?"

When she made eye contact with her best friend, she grimaced. "Yesterday, I accidentally found out who Badger is." His jaw dropped, not unlike when he found out that she was Blindeye. "I'm not going to tell you though so don't ask."

"No, of course." They were both silent for a few moments. "Well, you should probably get some sleep before the big parade at ten."

"Badger wanted to do something today." Clary shook her head. "He wanted to let the public see us for a moment and then ditch the festivities and just celebrate the two of us. I don't know if I can do that anymore."

"Does he know your identity?"

"No."

"Does he know you know his identity?"

"No."

"Then stop getting all worked up about it." He put his hands on her shoulders. "It'll be best for you both if you just pretend you don't know. You know this. You've got this."

Clary nodded. "You're right. I'm Blindeye. Of course, I've got this." But she wasn't too sure about that. Because while she might still be Blindeye, he is still Jace...

* * *

"I'M LATE!"

Alec fell off the couch when Jace came barreling out of his room. The boy turned around confused as his roommate hopped around with one shoe on and grabbed a piece of bread from the kitchen.

"Late for what?" Alec asked.

"The parade!" Jace shouted back. "Duh! It's Blindeye and Badger's one-year hero-aversary and the entire city is celebrating it. There's no way I'm going to miss a party this big."

Alec rolled his eyes. "I didn't even know you paid attention to them."

"I don't." True, in a sense. He didn't pay attention to them in the news. He did focus on them when he was actually one of them. "But I still want to go. Are you going?"

He nodded. "Magnus is obsessed with the duo. So, yeah, I'm going."

"Well, then I won't wait up for you." Jace ran a hand through his messy hair. "But maybe I'll see you out there."

"Probably," Alec started, "not..."

Jace chuckled. "Right, see you later, mate." As soon as he left, he got into costume.

Today was supposed to be real fun and everything. But how was he supposed to focus on anything other than Clary? Should he tell her that he knows? No, of course not. She would flip her shit. But they were supposed to get together today to celebrate. Just the two of them. All alone. He didn't know how he was going to do it. For one, he was pretty sure at this point that he felt _something _for Clary. For two, she was Blindeye! And that was enough for him to be second-guessing their getting together.

Still, he put on his best acting skills and headed out to the heart of the city where the festivities would be focused. Already, there were parade floats in the shape of him and Clary... or Badger and Blindeye. Oh boy, this was going to get difficult. Jace groaned as his thoughts screwed with him. He stood on the edge of a rooftop and looked out at everything. It was certainly going to be a long day.

"Hey." He almost fell off of the building. He one-hundred percent could have died, but by the lack of reaction, it didn't seem that Cla-Blindeye cared all that much about startling him. In fact, she seemed a little out of it herself.

"Hey," Jace replied not looking at her. Not that she was looking at him either.

"I got you something," she said, and at that, he looked over. And his eyebrows raised. Because she was in an entirely new costume. It was clearly still Blindeye, but it was far superior to the costume that she'd worn throughout the year. That reminded Jace of the fact that Clary was an artist, of course, she designed this. "I know," she continued noticing his staring. "It's new. And that's what your present is too." She handed him a box with a large blue bow on it.

Jace opened the box slowly. He had actually gotten Blindeye a present. Before he knew she was Clary. So, he hadn't really wanted to give it to her. He had it with him but he just felt awkward and stupid now. He knew that he shouldn't because obviously, Clary didn't know his real identity. But it still felt weird. Inside the box was a black latex/leather suit complete with boots and gloves. It was a pretty similar outfit to the one he had on now except it wasn't as boring. There were designs made in the leather that looked like animal claw marks. Plus, it felt softer than his current one.

"I know it's not much," Clary started quickly, "but it's more breathable and the shoes are good for running despite that they're boots. And I just sort of thought it looked kind of badass. I asked my roommate, the one I ended up telling the truth to, what he thought and he said it was cool. So, I hope you like it. And I didn't make you a new mask because I just didn't know what I would do to it."

Jace thought about the roommate. It was Simon. Simon knew the truth. Alright, cool. He shook his head trying to ignore all this complicated other stuff and focus on what was happening at that moment.

"Thank you," Jace said in response. He held up a finger. "I'll be right back." With that, he used his super-speed to sprint off the building and change. He was back quickly. And Clary had been right, this suit was breathable.

She grinned when he arrived back. "Looking good, wallaby."

"You too, red." Jace was a little upset that he couldn't meet her eye anymore. Her new mask, while as cool as it looked, stopped him from doing so. It also stopped him from knowing where she was looking. That wouldn't be annoying at all.

Jace then grabbed the little box that had been chilling on the roof with him. It wasn't much of anything. But he saw it one day a couple of weeks back and thought of Blindeye. So, he got it. Just because they weren't always on the best of terms didn't mean he didn't enjoy having her as a partner. They always fought but he couldn't resist her. He handed the little box to Clary and she raised her eyebrows. And that was another thing Jace should've noticed! Neither of them could raise one freaking eyebrow... ridiculous. She opened up the box and her expression immediately softened. Pulling the object out, they could both see it was a black bracelet with the words "Partner In Crime" in bronze lettering.

"This is perfect," Clary put it on. She was clearly trying not to smile but was failing. "Thank you."

"Hey, I've got one too." He pulled off his glove and let the bracelet show. "Like friendship bracelets." He winked at her as he put the glove back on.

"Always so childish." She shook her head but this time when she said those words they weren't full of detest and disappointment but they were rather playful and joking.

"Alright, come on. We need to be headed to our parade." Jace nodded towards the streets of Times Square below them and Clary grinned.

"Longest day of my life... here I come." She turned invisible as she climbed down the building and Jace followed her or at least figured he was headed in the same direction as her.

When Jace found himself in the middle of mayhem is when Clary reappeared. He nearly jumped out of his costume he was so startled by her. She just smirked and waved to their audience. A few hours were then spent just addressing the crowd as they cheered and shouted for their city protectors. It was a pretty tiring feat, actually. But Jace knew it was worth it because it let the people know that they cared. Being a superhero is much like being a politician which is precisely why Jace always made the biggest effort to positively publicize himself.

Eventually, they got a break from all the waving as people began going about the festivities that were set up. There were music and rides and all the like. Jace felt kind of bad for anyone that still had to go to work today because there was barely any way to get through the city. Then again, most shops and offices had been shut down so it shouldn't be too bad.

After some more pictures were taken and questions were asked by reporters, Clary pulled Jace to the side. "Still wanna get away?" There was something hesitant in her voice when she asked but Jace didn't know why. He himself was also hesitant about going off together as they had initially planned, but he still wanted to.

"Yeah, let's go. I've got a place in mind."

As they started walking off, they were stopped by yet another reporter. This one Jace recognized though. It was Simon. But he wasn't supposed to know who Simon is. Nor was he supposed to know that Simon is the friend that knows Clary's true identity. Nor was he supposed to know Clary's true identity. In short, nothing about this situation was screaming good.

"Can I ask a few questions?" Simon asked looking between the two.

Clary raised her eyebrows at him in annoyance and sighed. "Sure."

"Great." He opened his little notebook and prepped his pencil. "So, what's with the new costumes? The city is already buzzing about your outfits and we're all wondering if there was some special reason you guys changed."

"The special reason is today." Clary shrugged. "Our one-year hero-aversary seemed like the perfect opportunity to up our game a little."

Simon smiled knowingly at Clary, though he seemed to be trying to hold back since Jace was there. "Something that the city has always been curious about- and I _have _to ask-" He motioned to a recorder in his pocket after quietly adding the last part. "Is if you guys know each other's true identities. Are you friends in real life?"

"Nope." The answer came from both Jace and Clary and rather quickly. They glanced sideways at each other before Jace shrugged. "Blindeye has always been very careful about keeping who we are secret for safety reasons. We wouldn't want Black Angel figuring us out and coming after our friends and family."

At that, Clary stiffened. Jace rubbed her arm a little bit trying to calm her. Simon didn't seem to notice this but he too was now a little off.

"Right," he cleared his throat. "And that brings me to my next question about Black Angel. How do you guys plan to take him down? He's been wreaking havoc across New York for a year now and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we want him gone."

"That's a great question," Clary started,

"And it's too bad we don't have the answer to it," Jace finished. "Unfortunately, we're just taking this all one day at a time. We've recently gotten some leads on who Black Angel could be but none of it is looking good for any of us so far."

"But we'll be sure to let everyone know as soon as we take him down."

"And one last question," Simon called as the two tried to walk away. When they turned back to him he mouthed _I'm sorry _to Clary. "Would the two of you be willing to appear in a live interview about the discovery of your powers and how your hero personas have impacted your lives over the past year?"

Jace looked over at Clary expecting her to shake her head at him. Instead, she seemed to be considering it. Maybe it was because it was her best friend asking or maybe it was just some change of heart. But after a little while, she nodded her head and verbally agreed. Jace was utterly stunned but he didn't question it at that moment. He and Clary were off then making their way through the crowds and away from the reporters. After a while of walking, Jace stopped his partner.

"Get on my back."

Her eyebrows shot up at him. "No."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh come on. You've done it before. We'll get there way faster."

"I haven't done that in over ten months. And I almost threw up."

Jace cocked his head at her and held out a hand. She glared at him for a minute but eventually sighed and took his hand allowing him to help her climb up onto his back. Once she had her arms wrapped around his neck, he took off and instantly her grip tightened. She was right when she said they hadn't done this in a while. During the beginning of their days when they had been closer, they'd used their powers to help one another. They still did that, obviously, but not to much extent. Running so fast Jace crossed the water, they arrived at the little island upon which the Statue of Liberty sat. They made their way up to the tip-top and Jace was immensely relieved that no one seemed to be around. They were all in Times Square.

"Holy shit," Clary gasped and she bent over with her hands on her knees. "I'm not doing that ever again."

"Just wait ten months," Jace said. He stood at the edge of the platform and glanced back at her grinning. She sneered.

"If I throw up, it's going to be on you."

"All over my brand new suit?" He pouted gesturing down at himself and Clary couldn't seem to help but smile.

"Fine, but only because I designed it." Happy to have won that battle, Jace turned back to the view and the two stood in content silence for a little while. "You know," Clary randomly said, "I feel a little bad. They had to replace the entire torch she's holding because Black Angel whipped it at me."

He chuckled. "I think the city cared more about the fact that you didn't die rather than that they had to pay a percent more of taxes."

"Eh." She shrugged with nonchalance. "Wouldn't have made much of a difference." And suddenly the entire vibe just changed. Jace looked over at Clary with concern but she was turned away from him, her expression unreadable.

"Wait, what does that even mean?"

"Nothing, I was just kidding."

"Cl-" Jace immediately cleared his throat. "Blindeye, you realize how much you matter in this partnership right? You're one-half of a superhero duo. Of course, you make a difference."

"Okay." It almost sounded like she scoffed. "I don't even get close. To Black Angel, I mean. In every fight and battle I end up getting injured and you're always the one that finishes it out. I mean, you even said it a little while ago. You could do all this on your own. Not much would be different without me here. Except that my family and best friend wouldn't be in constant mortal danger because of a supervillain who wants nothing other than me dead because I accidentally got some random ass powers." The roots of her hair changed color slightly, they turned blue. Jace had noticed a few times in the past that a bit of her hair would change depending on her mood. It didn't always happen though. "You wonder why I'm always such a hardass about being responsible with our powers. I feel ridiculous. I have chromakinesis and ictiokinesis and I can turn invisible which is nice sometimes. But you have superspeed and superstrength and regeneration and telepathy now! I control color and light."

"And that's so badass. You can solidify colors by pulling them into your hand. You can blind people, I know from experience. And I didn't mean it when I said I could fight without you." Jace grabbed Clary's arm and turned her to face him. Her roots turned back to white. "What's with the sudden freakout anyway?"

"I don't know. I guess after a year of near-death experiences and living in your shadow, I'm just tired."

"My... shadow?" Jace opened his mouth to further question her but was interrupted by an explosion that shook the waters around them.

"What was that?" Clary immediately sprung into action. "It came from that way."

Jace looked over to see a cloud of smoke over the city. One of the huge balloons that had been towering over the buildings was sinking to the ground. The two went as fast as they could back to Times Square. People were screaming and running about. There was fire and smoke billowing from one of the nearby buildings. A dozen Black Angels fluttered about the sky.

"We should've figured this would happen!" Clary shouted over the mayhem. "God, we're idiots for leaving." She looked around for a moment before pointing at the burning building. "You get anyone in there out. I'm going to try and cut our number of villains down."

Jace tried to reply but she was already gone. He sighed and ran into the building. The sounds of people shouting were enough for him to find them fairly quickly. Once he thought he'd gotten everyone out, he ran throughout the building a couple more times just to check. As he was going through the top floor for the last time, the floor below him completely caved in and the roof collapsed. Jace pushed the layers of paneling off himself with little difficulty. Once he was able to see the sky and the streets again, another building exploded.

Three Black Angels flew out from the hole they'd just made. Groaning, Jace went to his new place of rescue. He didn't know where Clary was right now but he was really hoping she was taking care of these flying rats. He couldn't handle this number of them on his own. And she thought she didn't make a difference...

He pulled out a few people but this building was crumbling faster than the first one. Before he could manage to run back in for the fourth time, Jace got smacked in the face by a slab of concrete. He pushed himself up off the ground and threw his arms up.

"Really? Who the hell threw that at me? Rude..." He brushed the rubble from his shoulders.

Black Angel dropped down about a dozen feet from where Jace stood. And a few more Black Angels then surrounded him. Behind him, the building fell a bit more. As did Jace's heart when he remembered there were still people in it. He wanted to turn back and save them, but with all the firefighters and police around, he knew he should probably focus on the antagonist in front of him.

"I didn't see you two when I arrived," Black Angel started. "As my civilian self I looked around and I have to be honest, I grew a little angry when I couldn't find you." Jace noticed a twitch in the man's face as he spoke. "Glad to see you're here now."

"What's going on, Black Angel?" Jace took a step forward, his hands up.

"You know what," he snarled. "On this day your powers are celebrated. Powers you shouldn't have. _My _powers."

"Not what I meant. The address you gave me for Blindeye. How'd you know?"

Black Angel cocked his head to the side. "She hasn't figured it out yet? I thought she was smarter than that. Oh well, I suppose it doesn't matter yet. As long as she knows before she inevitably dies."

Jace pulled the sword out from behind him, a flit of rage going through his body. "I thought you were going to try to take our powers before killing us."

"I've been trying. None of my tests have been working." His head twitched. "I'm running out of options. Out of time."

From behind him, Jace heard someone. He whipped around to be faced with a Black Angel copy. He swung out his sword and was parried. The other fake Angels that had been behind him attacked then and Jace quickly found himself surrounded on all sides. He turned back and forth repeatedly trying not to get hit. One wrong strike and his regenerative abilities wouldn't be able to save him. He was beginning to lose though, he could tell as it began to become harder and harder for him to make the parries in time.

When the world around him turned rainbow, Jace nearly dropped his sword. He looked down and saw that Clary- still as Blindeye, he might add- was touching his foot. She herself was standing on some rubble several feet below him, so the only part of him she could reach was his foot. And barely. Her own body was covered in a rainbow aura and it extended to Jace. Knowing that this would make him basically untouchable, he leaped down to Clary and away from the Black Angels.

"Thanks," he said as she moved to grab his wrist.

"We need to get him out of here."

"Yes, thank you for stating the obvious."

"If you're going to sass me like that then I can leave and you can do this by yourself."

"Oh, like I haven't been already?"

"Ass." Clary rolled her eyes. "If I blind him it'll wipe out his clones and you can knock him off his feet. Hurt him or something."

"Yeah, whatever. Just do it."

She released his arm and the clones started coming for them again. Looking around, Jace spotted the real Black Angel floating a little ways away. He pointed him out to Clary and she started heading for him. It took a couple of tries but she successfully hit him in the face with light. Not being able to control his clones anymore, they all disappeared and Black Angel started twirling around in the sky with his hands over his face. Jace ran up the rubble and jumped. He hit the man's body with his own knocking him out of the air. They both tumbled to the ground and before Jace could get back up, Black Angel whacked him in the face with his wings and then pushed himself back into the sky. Rather clumsily, he flew away.

Panting, Clary rejoined Jace as they helplessly watched their nemesis get away yet again. They were silent for a moment, just listening to the sound of sirens and shouting.

"Do we always fight like that?"

Jace looked sideways at Clary's question. He supposed that since they had been getting along lately they'd forgotten their usual rivalry.

"Yeah."

"You wanna stop?"

"Yeah."

She half-smiled at him. "Thanks for the bracelet. We should probably start helping clean up."

He nodded. "Yeah, let's do that."

The rest of their hero-aversary was spent cleaning up the mess Black Angel had left and counting the dead. The number wasn't extremely high, but anything over zero was too much. It was interesting because something about the day was reminding Jace about their very first battle one year ago. That had been the start of an era. And now, he supposed, since he knew who Blindeye was and since Black Angel's secrets were beginning to come to light, it was the start of another era.


	10. So, Mom

**So sorry that it's been a hot minute since I last updated. I hope y'all enjoy this chapter and I'll update soon! Also, be sure to leave a review; y'all have no idea how much reviews mean to me and I'm more likely to update faster if I get a lot of reviews.**

At Java Jones, Clary was working as usual. Except for the fact that Magnus wasn't there. Why wasn't he there? Well, on the previous day during the Black Angel attack a lot of people were injured because they were all crammed in one place for the festival. One of said injured people was Magnus. Needless to say, Clary was really beating herself up about it. It wasn't too bad of an injury and he should be getting out within the week, but she felt awful. Blindeye and Badger always went to hospitals after big battles but no one she personally knew had ever been hurt before and it sucked. Now she understood what the rest of the populace had to go through.

She was spinning the "Partners In Crime" bracelet absentmindedly. Her head was elsewhere and she wasn't really paying attention to what was around her. So, when she was spoken to, she yelped.

"Christ, Clary, are you okay?" Upon seeing Jace, Clary immediately dropped her hand to her side to prevent him from spotting her bracelet.

"Mentally? No," she joked. "Otherwise? Sure, let's go with that. Anyway, what's up? Alec with you?"

"Yeah, he's coming in. He's just dawdling today. You know... Magnus." Clary had been staring at Jace as he spoke. This was, after all, the first time she saw him as himself since she found out he was Badger. Now, she couldn't stop comparing them. Not only that but he was rather attractive so it wasn't like it was hard to stare. "Clary?"

"Huh? What?" She blinked not knowing what'd just said.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He narrowed his eyes with worry and she gulped hard. Being around him wasn't going to be easy.

"Yeah," she squeaked, "I'm fine."

Thankfully, Alec came in at that moment and saved her. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was unbrushed. He was a mess. Clary walked around the counter and over to him to give him a hug. He returned it and they stood like that for a few moments.

"He'll be okay," Clary said, "it's not that bad."

Alec nodded. "I know."

"So then cheer up." She patted him on the arm and walked back around the counter. "And help me plan him a party for when he gets out of the hospital."

"Parties-"

"'Aren't really your thing.'" Clary rolled her eyes. "I know. But they are Jace's." She pointed to the golden-boy hoping that he would help her out.

"Yeah," Jace piped up grinning. "Let's throw him a party. He deserves it."

"Okay," Alec sighed. "Fine, I'll help you throw a party, Clary."

"Yay! Good. Now, I'm serious when I tell you to cheer up. Magnus wouldn't want you to be wallowing." Clary started making Alec's usual order then. Both boys had yet to order anything, it was rather annoying. She had a job to do after all.

"She's right," said Jace. "And that's what I've been trying to tell you all morning." He turned to Clary. "He refuses to listen to me."

"Love does stupid things to people," she replied purposefully not looking at Alec.

He scoffed. "I don't- It's not- I mean, we're not-" He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. "I don't appreciate you two talking like I'm not here."

"I think he's angry," Jace continued still only looking at Clary. She had to fight back a smile.

"I think you're right."

"Woe is us, what did we do to deserve such hatred?"

Now, Clary couldn't help but smile. "I don't know, but surely he'll get past this soon. He can only hide from the truth for so long."

"Ah, yes. His love will come to light soon enough." He winked at Clary before finally turning back to Alec with a smirk. The raven-haired boy was glaring at the two.

"I hate you both."

"You're only proving our point." Jace shrugged.

Clary slid Alec's drink across the counter. "And you'll get over it. You can't hate us for long."

Jace gaped when Alec picked up his drink. "What? He gets something and I don't? Well, don't I feel special..."

"Alec is a regular and has ordered the same exact thing every day for two years. What do you want, Jace?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

He then shrugged, his expression turning neutral. "Eh, I'm not really in the mood for anything right now. I'm good."

She shook her head at him as he and Alec walked over to sit on the stools by the counter. "So, are you guys going to visit Magnus later?"

"Yeah." Alec nodded. "Izzy's heading there later today so I was going to join her. You can tag along if you'd like."

"Sure, I was planning on going with Simon." She leaned on her elbows. "We can all make a day of it and completely overwhelm the man in his tiny hospital room with balloons and flowers and confetti."

"I don't think the hospital will allow us to bring in confetti," Jace pointed out.

"That's irrelevant." Clary waved a dismissive hand.

"You guys know what would be really great?" said Alec. "If Blindeye and Badger showed up for him. They do that a lot for people who are injured during their battles, right? I'm sure they'll be doing that soon, maybe today even."

Clary's eyes went wide and she noticed that Jace froze a little too. She tried not to look at him as she stammered out a response. "Yeah, he'd really love that and I'm sure... you know, it could happen. Maybe."

"But I'm also sure they're like really busy," Jace added and his tone of voice was unsure. "Cause at the festival yesterday they agreed to do that live interview thing and who knows when that's happening. Plus, the Black Angel attacks seem to be getting worse lately."

"Great point," said Clary, "really great point. But I mean yeah, it all just depends. You know. It'd be cool if it happens but we'll just have to see."

Alec looked back and forth between the two with narrowed eyes. "Do you guys not want them there or something?"

"No," Jace said probably a bit too quickly. "It's just that we're being realistic about the probability of them visiting Magnus. I mean, a lot of people were injured yesterday."

One of Clary's coworkers came over to them. She kind of knew him, but not well. "Hey, you told me to let you know when it was eleven."

She checked the time and saw that he was right. "Yeah, thanks." He nodded and walked off. "Sorry guys but I've got to get going. Alec, I'll text you later about going to the hospital." She collected her things and walked around to the other side of the counter. Jace stopped her before she reached the door though.

"Hold on, I've been meaning to talk to you." Her heart started racing a little as she immediately assumed that he knew who she was. She started coming up with excuses and explanations in her head and almost missed when Jace started speaking again. "When are we going to get around to hanging out?"

Oh boy did that stop her heart from racing... She willed herself to remain calm though and just smiled. "Time and place, goldie locks."

"You work tomorrow?" She shook her head. "Then meet me here at noon." He smirked and turned away.

Taking a deep breath, Clary left Java Jones. She got in her car and started driving, heading out of the city. The entire time she drove she was thinking about what just unfolded and was trying her best not to actually flip out. They were just hanging out, right? Just as friends. Jace wouldn't actually ask her out and she certainly wouldn't agree. Well, that's a lie. But that's not the point right now. The point is that Jace is her partner and she needed to start creating boundaries with him. Whatever little crush she had would have to go away.

About a half-hour later, Clary arrived at her predestined location. She opened the door to the house without knocking and called out. When the response came, she followed the voice and found her mom in the kitchen. Both women grinned and hugged one another in greeting.

"Clary, I wasn't expecting you today." Jocelyn held her daughter's face in her hands and inspected her. When she was seemingly satisfied, she released her. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought we needed to talk," Clary said and looked around at the old pictures on the wall.

"Couldn't do that over the phone?"

She shook her head. "Not this conversation."

Raising an eyebrow, Jocelyn nodded and went to the cabinet. She pulled out a couple of tea bags and some mugs. "Alright, so what's going on?"

As the older woman started making the two tea, Clary sat down at the kitchen table. She was silent for a minute trying to figure out if there was any way to ease into what they had to discuss. There really wasn't.

"Did you know that dad died?"

She didn't look back at Clary. "No, when?"

"In a week it'll be a year ago."

She picked up the mugs and sat across the table from Clary. "I'm sorry to hear that. Do you know how it happened?" Clary shook her head. "Does Sebastian know?"

"I don't know." Clary shrugged and pulled her mug to her. She messed with the string of the tea bag. "I haven't talked to him in years. I hadn't talked to dad in years either... I didn't know he died until a little while ago. I just thought I should let you know."

Jocelyn nodded. "Right. Well, I do wish you would visit me more and not under such horrid circumstances." She smiled playfully and Clary was thankful that the mood was lightened.

"I know it's been awhile and I'm sorry. There's just been a lot going on the past year."

"Just promise me that we'll start getting together more."

Clary reached over and took her mom's hand in her own. She offered her a weak smile. "I promise I'll try."

* * *

Back in the apartment, Jace wasn't doing much of anything. Alec was at work so Jace was just by himself. He had the tv on and his legs propped up on the coffee table. When the front door suddenly opened, he wasn't so much startled as he was confused. Isabelle came in and her eyes immediately landed on Jace. She glanced around for a moment before stalking over to him.

"Is Alec here?"

"Uh, no."

"Good." She plopped down beside him and grabbed the remote turning off the tv. "I did something last night that I can't tell Alec about but I need to tell _someone _about."

"You can't tell Clary?" Jace questioned and she shook her head. "Alright, shoot."

"You know Clary's friend? Simon?" Oh no... "Well, we ran into each other at the festival yesterday. This was before the Black Angel attack, obviously. And we got to talking and we went out to eat and we may have... ended up... sleeping together." She chuckled awkwardly and Jace's eyebrows shot up. "I left in the morning before Clary ever knew I was there."

"Okay." Jace just nodded. "I have nothing to say."

"And that's perfectly fine. I just needed to tell someone."

"You couldn't have told Magnus?"

"Do you not want to be friends, Jace? Because this is what I tell my friends."

He laughed. "No, no. Thank you for sharing this top secret information with me but I should remind you that Simon and Clary are best friends. Meaning that she's probably going to find out and soon."

"Right, which is exactly why I couldn't tell her. Simon had to tell her. We've only just begun a friendship. Jace, you clearly don't understand how any of this works."

"You're right." He nodded. "I don't."

"Well." Isabelle stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Glad I got that out. I'll be going now."

Jace shot her a thumbs up as she headed out the door. He shook his head to himself and ran a hand through his hair. With everything going on lately, Isabelle sleeping with Simon brightened his mood a bit. He didn't really know why but it was funny. Probably because she was making such a big deal out of it. It was nice, he supposed, to hear someone freak out about something other than Blindeye and Badger. Yeah, normalcy was nice.


	11. It's a Little Complicated

**Quick little update. Please review!**

"You," she spoke slowly, "and Isabelle?" The words coming from her mouth were partnered with a hard-to-contain smile after all. Clary placed both her hands over her mouth and breathed in deeply.

"Why is this funny to you?" Simon asked clearly offended that his best friend was trying not to laugh at the news he'd just shared.

"It's not." She shook her head but her voice gave her away. Simon raised an eyebrow, not a hint of a smile on his face. "It's just- and I say this with all the love in my heart- isn't she a little out of your league?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Probably."

"And do you really think it's going to go anywhere?" Her voice was softer now.

Simon thought for a moment and huffed. "Probably... not."

"I just want you to be realistic, Si. After your last and only serious girlfriend... well, it got ugly there for a while." She patted him on the shoulder before walking past him to put the plates from the breakfast they'd been eating in the sink. Yes, it was morning. And yes, Simon had waited a whole entire day to tell his best friend his news.

"I know." He sounded aggravated now and from what came out of his mouth next, Clary knew he was. "But aren't you supposed to be going on a date soon? With _Jace._"

"It is not a date," Clary snapped back. "It's just two people hanging out and getting to know each other better. I wouldn't date Jace."

"One, that sure sounds like a date to me. And two, why not?" He leaned over the island towards Clary and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"I have my reasons."

He rolled his eyes. "What? Like you 'had your reasons' for not wanting to be a cartoonist for the New York Times?" When Clary said nothing he furrowed his eyebrows. "Oh wow, you really do have your reasons. Well, if you refuse to tell me why you wouldn't date Jace then I'll just assume he's Badger and go around thinking that."

Clary smirked turning back to him. "Think whatever you want, bud. I'm not telling you."

"Annoying." He glared at her. "But whatever. I have to get to work. Have fun on your not-date later."

Clary waved to her best friend as he exited the apartment. Once he was gone, she walked back to her room to get dressed. She paused at her closet though considering her options for the day. This wasn't a date... she believed that she had just clarified that. But then what was she supposed to wear? It was Jace, lord she doesn't need to overthink this. He's Badger, she's known him for a year. And yet... plain casual wouldn't do! Because it was _Jace_. He's _Badger_, she's known him for a _year_ and now everything is changing. She groaned and flopped back on her bed.

"This is stupid," Clary said aloud to herself. She sat back up and stared at her closet. "I'm being stupid." She pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from when Simon's band in high school made themselves shirts. She liked it because it reminded her of the good days and it was kind of cute. It said _Mortal Instruments_ across the front and had their names in one line down the back. There were some other designs on it too, all courtesy of Clary's goodwill. She paused as she pulled the top on and wondered whatever happened to all those guys.

After getting dressed, Clary spent the rest of the morning drawing. She laid on the couch with one leg over the back and the other stretched out. Days like these were far and few between and she always loved them. As she was beginning to sketch a new drawing, Clary saw that it was wings. She frowned being reminded of her archnemesis. Trying to push that issue from her mind, she put down her sketch book and left her apartment deciding that she'd get to Java Jones just a bit early.

On the walk over, her mind was clear of all things superhero. Instead, she watched the people around her as they interacted with one another. The idea that every person had their own unique individual lives was entertaining to think about. What was their day-to-day routine like? Did they stress over simple things like an interview or a big test? Maybe they had a wedding or a birthday coming up. Maybe a funeral or a trip to the hospital. So many different lives existing all at once was just incr-

Clary was cut from her thoughts when the street to her left split in half. The cars on it crashed into one another as they all tried to stop and not fall into the newly formed crack. Thankfully, it wasn't actually large enough for a car to fall down. A human... sure, definitely.

Sighing, Clary looked down the street to where Java Jones was now in sight. She groaned and pulled out her phone to text Jace- Badger. It seemed that instead of hanging out as normal people they would just have to hang out as superheroes. Great.

Darting to the side, Clary turned invisible. Once she was Blindeye, she stayed in her invisible state and scoured the streets for Black Angel. People were screaming and running away from the crash site. Aside from a few, that is, who decided to stay put and pull out their phones. Clary rolled her eyes but did nothing to shoo them, these were always somehow the people that never managed to accidentally get injured from the fights.

She was still looking for Black Angel or the source of the crack when Badger- Jace- whoever showed up. Clary reappeared at his side and he jumped nearly punching her in the face.

"I thought I asked you to stop doing that?" He exhaled with a look of annoyance written across his face.

Clary, on the other hand, was smiling. "Yes, but I like the look on your face as you pee your pants a little." She couldn't help but notice that he almost seemed to laugh at that. Almost.

"Alright, so what's going on? What the hell happened here?" He crouched down over the broken pavement and looked into it.

"I have no idea. I was literally just walking down the sidewalk over there when the street exploded. I already checked everyone in the cars, no injuries. But I don't see Black Angel around nor have I found the cause for this." She aggressively gestured to the street with her hands.

"Just walking down the street?" Jace asked walking over to her. Why was that the part he was focusing on? "Where were you going?"

Clary raised her eyebrows. She was going to see him but he didn't need to know that. She was just confused as to why he cared. "Why does it matter?"

He shrugged. "Well, I'm just thinking that if we're finally going to put our differences aside and be friends then I should be invested in your life. Get to know who you are on the inside, you know?"

She pursed her lips leveling her gaze with him. This was Jace, but boy was he a different person with the costume on. "I am this close to punching you in the face despite the fact that I know it would do absolutely nothing to you." She stood on her tiptoes and brought her pointer and thumb together in front of his face. "This close."

Jace just smiled. "Do it if you'd like."

That took her back. "What?"

"Punch me. I'm sure after all this time you've wanted to do it. A lot. I'm giving you the opportunity to now." He pointed to his cheek. "Like you said, it'll do nothing. To me, that is."

Clary shook her head backing away from him. If he'd offered this to her before she knew his identity she probably would've done it, but she didn't want to punch Jace. "No, I'm not going to do that. Now, come on. We need to figure out what's happened."

The two looked around the proximity of the street for about two hours. Firefighters had shown up at some point to help them out. Construction workers and tow-trucks were already there to start fixing the place. After a while, Clary got aggravated and kicked at a piece of concrete.

"Don't beat up the road," Jace said coming up to her. "It doesn't deserve that after all it's been through." She rolled her eyes but didn't reply. "You alright?"

"It feels like that's been asked of me a lot lately..." Clary crossed her arms over her chest as she watched the workers do their jobs.

"A lot has happened lately."

"I'm used to it." She tapped one of her fingers against her arm. "Life of a superhero."

"You really need a boost in mood. Black Angel isn't even here. If anything, this was probably caused by something totally normal. A pipeline burst or something." He gently pulled on one of her arms so that she faced him. "You're too stressed."

"You're too relaxed."

"Are we really going to have another one of these fights?" His eyes flicked over her face and she knew that he was trying to see past her mask and to her eyes. That made her smile a little. She shook her head and he smiled back. "Good, I was getting pretty tired of them."

"That makes two of us." Clary turned back to the scene before them but immediately remembered something. "Oh, and I've been meaning to talk to you. About your new power."

"The telepathy?"

"Yeah. Listen, as cool as it is and as excited as I am for you, I need you to promise me something." When he nodded, she continued. "Once you've learned to control it, never use your powers to read my mind. Not to figure out my identity or anything. Promise me that."

Jace scoffed almost laughing and he nodded his head. "You do not need to worry. I can promise you that I will not try to use my powers to discover your identity, Blindeye."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Okay, good. Thank you."

"I still think we should share though. It could be the start of something pretty awesome."

"Oh?"

"We could be best friends as civilians and not even know it." _Not quite_, Clary thought but she was grinning as he continued. "Or we could be dating and not even know it. Tell me, Blindeye, do you have a boyfriend?"

She looked up at him trying to keep a poker face. "No, I don't."

"Alright, well we can rule that one out then."

"Hold on." This was going to bother Clary now. There was no way that Jace had asked her out as civilian him but now as Badger him he was talking about having a girlfriend. Not... that it was a date, of course. "Are you saying that you have a girlfriend?"

His smile widened. "No, I'm not. But I am intrigued at your reaction, red. Freakout a bit, did you?"

She scoffed. "No." But there was nothing else she could think of to say to fix this.

"Sure you didn't. You just love the idea of me with another girl." Jace ruffled her hair and as he pulled his hand back, he cocked his head at her. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Clary whirled around assuming he'd just seen something behind her.

"No." He pulled her back to face him again. "I'm talking about you. Your hair just like flashed bright red for a split second."

Clary's eyes went wide. Her hair tended to change with her mood when she wasn't paying attention and Jace's touch of affection had sped up her heart rate. Just for a split second. "No, it didn't."

"Yes, it did. I saw it."

"Then you're seeing things because there would be no reason for my hair to have changed color."

"What does red mean?"

"I don't know." She scoffed and stuttered. "Disgust."

"No, that's green."

"My moods can be different colors than your moods!" She pointed an accusing finger at him. "You don't know me."

Jace just raised an eyebrow at her. He grabbed her finger and pulled it away from his face. "No, but I know that the universal color for disgust is green. Green is also jealousy, but I don't feel that's relevant here."

"Whatever," Clary snapped. "We should be going now because clearly there's nothing going on here that requires our superhero attention. So, goodbye Badger." With that, she turned invisible. She didn't leave immediately and instead took a deep breath trying to calm herself.

In front of her, Jace shook his head. He was smiling though and closed his eyes for a moment before turning and walking away. She watched him for another moment getting the strangest urge to follow him but then figured that he probably wouldn't appreciate that very much. So, she just went back to her apartment. As soon as she got home, she saw that the time was two pm and wondered how differing her and Jace's excuses were about to be to each other as to why they didn't show up to Java Jones. Not that it mattered considering neither of them showed up. But he didn't need to know that and she wasn't supposed to know that.

Remembering that she couldn't just text Jace, Clary called Alec and told him to tell his roommate that she had the stomach flu. She sat on her couch and thought back to her conversation with Jace as Badger. He had sort of been flirting with Blindeye, hadn't he? At the moment it had obviously felt nice, but now she was just focused on the fact that he didn't know she and Blindeye are the same person. Still, it hadn't been a date. Clary groaned when she had to remind herself of that for the dozenth time. Not a date...

* * *

"Hey, Iz," Jace called out. He was laying on the couch in his apartment and throwing a bouncy ball up at the ceiling. The girl he'd just spoken to was in Alec's room doing who-knows-what.

"Yeah?"

"Emotion wise, what does the color red mean?" It was getting late in the day and Alec would be home from work soon. He had texted Jace earlier though saying Clary told him she came down with the stomach flu. He'd laughed at the lie but was grateful she at least came up with some excuse for him. And he figured that since she had an excuse he then didn't need one. She didn't know that he didn't show up either.

"Umm, anger or love-lust." She popped her head out of the room. "That's obvious. Why were you asking?"

He shook his head and continued to throw the ball up. "I was just checking. So, then... what would the color red mean in the context if a guy just ruffled the hair of a girl."

Isabelle raised an eyebrow and fully stepped out the room. "That would depend on what happened right before that."

Jace thought for a moment. "He was joking around about her being jealous at the idea of him dating other girls."

She opened her mouth but then closed it. "That could go either way. I mean, if it was a real playful conversation and the girl was joking too then it would definitely be the love-lust side. But if the girl was at all visibly upset then it's definitely anger. But if it was anger then green probably would've played a part as well. Unless, of course, the girl wasn't jealous and was just annoyed by the jealousy accusations."

Jace furrowed his eyebrows at her and when he caught his ball next, he just held it. "Nah, she was definitely jealous."

Isabelle chuckled shaking her head and going back into Alec's room. "Who are you talking about anyway?"

"Absolutely no one at all."

"That's the fattest lie you've ever told, but okay."

"You've known me for like a couple of weeks!" Jace shouted back. "You don't know the fattest lie I've ever told."

"Fine, then what's the fattest lie you've ever told?"

He thought back, mainly through his college years, but couldn't remember anything. "I don't know. I've told way too many lies."

"Fair enough, I still want to know who you're talking about though." There was silence for a moment before Isabelle came out again. There was a smile on her face. "Are you talking about Clary?"

Jace rolled his eyes. "What makes you think that?"

"Because weren't you two supposed to like get together earlier today. Oh, and Magnus told me that you were totally hitting on her."

Jace bolted up. "What! When? I was not!"

She raised an eyebrow at him, still smirking. "Wow, Herondale, way to get defensive."

"I am not being defensive, I just don't recall ever flirting with the girl... in front of Magnus." He added the last part under his breath but Izzy still seemed to catch it.

"You should ask her out." She sat down in the chair across from Jace. "And I mean on a real date, not something that could be confused as just as a hangout."

"It wasn't meant to be a date," Jace rebuttaled but he was chewing on his lip and her words made him grimace. Back when he'd first met Blindeye he'd been intoxicated with his partner. She was fierce, brave, outgoing, and stubborn in the best way possible. They'd been friends when they first met and everything he'd learned about her he liked. He had desperately wanted to know her true identity but it had been precisely that wish that drove the two apart greatly. And throughout the rest of their time as superheroes, he learned that caring about her in any way different than as partners would likely cause issues. It could lead to them being reckless or making the wrong decision. So, no... he couldn't ask her out on a date.

"Whatever," Izzy groaned and he wished that she knew his secret. If only that she would get off his back about this. "I have to get going soon. In fact, I'm headed over to Clary's." With a smirk, she stands and Jace quickly follows.

"Don't breathe a word of any of this to her."

"Any of what?" She throws up her hands exasperated. "Of you not being interested in her beyond friendship? Trust me, I'm sure it won't come up."

"It's not that," Jace sighed but he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from spilling his biggest secret to his best friend's little sister.

"Then what?" She stood there with her hands on her hips and her gaze leveling Jace's.

He opened and closed his mouth before giving up and flopping back down on the couch. "Nothing."

Izzy rolled her eyes and left. Jace ran a hand through his hair, annoyed with himself. He was getting too careless around Clary _and _Blindeye. He was going to need to do something to keep his emotions in check. Something like... a girlfriend.


	12. Shit, That's Not Good

**Here's another update, my lovelies. Hope y'all enjoy!**

It had been a few days since the street incident. There had been a few more attacks and every time that Clary came home with any sort of injury she was lectured by Simon for about an hour. He would then proceed to help her clean herself up. He was a good friend, just a little overprotective. Clary also couldn't help but notice that as Badger, Jace was being distant. And as Jace, she hadn't seen him much. Just a couple of times in Java Jones with Alec. Magnus was released from the hospital this morning so Clary knew that Alec wouldn't come to Java Jones today. Sadly, instead of seeing one of her closest friends, she was still stuck at work.

Isabelle and Simon sat at a table in Java Jones just a bit past noon. They were discussing something and Clary smiled as she watched them. It turned out that they actually did make a pretty good couple. Well, that's kind of hard to tell after just a couple of days, but Clary was beginning to like them together. She walked around the counter and sat down at their table with them. It wasn't super busy right now.

"I'm tired," she complained leaning her head on Isabelle's shoulder.

"Suck it up," said Simon oh-so sympathetically. "You've still got several more hours to go."

Clary stuck her tongue out at him and then sat up straight. Her eyes caught the door though and widened when someone walked in. She immediately ducked her head down and grimaced.

"What?" Simon asked turning to where she'd been looking.

"Oh." Isabelle furrowed her eyebrows. "It's Jace. And that girl he's with, I think that's his ex Kaelie. Alec used to tell me a lot about her, she's a total bitch. They dated back in college though."

"He's been totally ignoring me the past few days," Clary complained still with her head low. "I don't know why!"

"Is it maybe because you ditched your guys not-date the other day?" Simon suggested.

Clary scoffed. "Definitely not."

"He's just a jackass." Isabelle shook her head. "Even Alec's been saying he's been acting off lately."

"Maybe it's hormones," said Simon. "He got his man period."

Clary couldn't help but smile at that a little. "Yeah, maybe."

Just then, the building shook and everyone inside grabbed hold of what was near them for stability. Clary looked over at Simon with wide eyes. The door flung open and Black Angel walked in. Everyone gasped and started backing away. The villain took just a few steps inside. Through the windows, Clary could see his clones rampaging the streets.

"I've decided I'm going to start being more direct," Black Angel shouted to the crowd. "So, let's get this started." His eyes landed on Clary and he smiled, except his cheeks flinched when he did so. He leapt forward, his wings carrying him over the crowds, and grabbed Clary. There were too many people around and she wasn't in her costume so there was nothing she could do as he turned around and started walking out with her. Clary spotted the girl that Jace had come in with to find that Jace was nowhere around. Hopefully, Badger was coming out to play.

"Let go of me!" Clary shouted and she kicked at the man.

"Why would I do that? You're very valuable to me." She hadn't really spoken with Black Angel in the past, but now she found that there was something familiar about his voice.

The man flew up to the roof of a building. Looking down, Clary saw that his minions were practically ripping up the streets. Thankfully though, Badger appeared and start cutting down a few of them. Black Angel didn't wait for his enemy to spot him, and he started flying off again.

She wasn't the biggest fan of flying, never really had been. So, sitting captive in Black Angel's arms as he flew well above the skyscrapers made her nauseous. She wondered that if she told him she was going to throw up he might set her down. It was a bit too late for that though because he had started descending already. As they flew lower and lower, Black Angel touched Clary's head and everything started to go dark until she was completely unconscious.

* * *

When she woke, Clary was in a dark room. There was a Black Angel duplicate in the other three corners of the room. Clary put a hand against her head and groaned. She felt sick, and when she found her mouth to be dry, she figured it was probably from dehydration.

Discreetly closing her right hand, Clary turned herself invisible. She stood and started walking through the room but quickly noticed that the Black Angels were all following her movement with their eyes. She stopped and turned to look at each of them in turn. Then, she looked down at her hand. She was in fact invisible. So, why were they all acting like they could see her?

"I've been developing my own powers." The voice startled her. A bang from a door closing quickly followed. "So, I can see you, Clarissa. It's called infrared vision. It means I can see your body heat even when you're invisible."

Clary opened her hand back up and reappeared. She made eye contact with Black Angel, though he had already been staring right at her.

"So, you've got me. Now what? You're going to kill me?"

To her surprise, he merely nodded. "I'm going to attempt one last test to remove your powers. Then, if all else fails, you'll be dead by sunrise."

"Sunrise? What time is it?" She looked around but there were no windows. If anything, they were probably underground.

"About nine pm."

"Great," Clary scoffed. "And not that you care or anything but you do realize that by kidnapping me as me in such a public setting, you revealed my true identity to everyone."

Black Angel shook his head. "Not necessarily. I've actually seen you on more than one occasion speaking with Badger out of your own costume. That could've been why I chose you. But it won't matter anyway because you'll be dead before the press even finds your house."

"How'd you know about my father?" Clary demanded ignoring that last comment.

"Your father?" His eye twitched. Then his hand. "Your father..."

Clary was confused. The man seemed a little deranged. "Yes, Valentine Morgenstern. You sent me to his grave. But I haven't spoken to him since I was a child. How did you even know?"

Black Angel raised his hand to his mask, his fingers constantly moving. When he pulled the thing from his face, his head was hung low for a moment. "You've really still yet to figure it out?" He raised his head and Clary gasped.

"Sebastian?" She took half a step forward. Her older brother was the villain she's been fighting. What a surprise... It was a surprise, actually. She really hadn't been expecting this. "You look... horrible." The words came out without her really meaning to say them. But they were the truth. His skin was wrinkly and dry, his eyes had dark blue bags beneath them, and his hair was practically falling out. Not to mention that he kept on twitching.

"Hello, dear sister." His head twitched to the side for a moment but he didn't seem to notice. He didn't seem to notice when anything twitched.

"Why... I mean, if you know who I am? Why?" She didn't know what question she wanted to ask. She just wanted to know why.

"You have powers you aren't meant to have. And that's wrong."

"Seb, I don't think you're okay." She took another step forward with her hand extended. There was something about his eyes... they were pitch black. This wasn't the brother she once knew.

"No." He shook his head backing away from her. "I'm not. Because I shouldn't have these powers either. I only gave myself them in order to take down you and Jace. Once you both are dead, then I shall die too."

Her eyes went wide. It wasn't this extreme. Why was he even thinking like this? There had to be something wrong with him. Wrong with his mind.

"That's not necessary, Seb. You know that. No one needs to die. Dad's death wasn't your fault. It wasn't Jace's fault and it wasn't mine. He had cancer." Her voice was low and soothing. She had to do her best to keep him calm. Lord knows what other new powers he had. "You trying to save him by some machine that would give him powers was just a dream. It would've been wrong and it would've changed who he was inside. Like it did to Jace and me and you." She pointed to herself and then to her brother and slowly opened her whole hand so that she was reaching out to him again.

"But he'd be alive." Was all he said before he spun on his heel and stalked back out of the room. The door slammed shut behind him and Clary was left alone with the clones again. She sighed and walked back over to a wall where she slid down against it and closed her eyes.

* * *

"This is not good." Jace paced back and forth. His hands were clasped together and held against his chin. After he'd gotten rid of all the clones, he'd started to freak out. Now, he was in a particular person's apartment. He was still in his costume, yes, and this particular person was standing just a few feet away from Jace.

"So..." Simon spoke slowly. "It's nice to meet you."

Jace snapped his head to glare at the boy before he turned back away from him. He dropped his hands to his side and continued pacing. It had been hours and he didn't know what to do. Clary was always better at figuring out what to do.

"Any idea why Black Angel would've taken her?" Simon asked after a few more minutes. Yeah, Jace had a pretty good idea why and he knew that Simon had a pretty good idea why as well. But he didn't know if he wanted to deal with that right now.

"There could be a couple of reasons," said Jace. "One being that your friend Clary is Blindeye and that Black Angel knows that. The other reason could be that Black Angel has seen me interacting with Clary a few times in the past." He stopped his pacing and met Simon's eye. "I think we both know which one of those is true, but we go with the latter when addressing the press."

Simon raised an eyebrow. "You think Clary is Blindeye?"

"Don't play dumb." Jace rolled his eyes and tore his mask off his face. Simon's jaw hit the ground. "I _know _Clary is Blindeye and I know that you do too. I've known for a while now."

"You- you- you- you- you're- I mean-"

"Shut up," he cut off his stammering. "Is it really that surprising?"

"Um, yes." Simon crossed his arms over his chest. "You've been ignoring Clary the last few days as Jace and as Badger. I know, she tells me everything. What the hell is that all about?"

"That's none of your business," Jace snapped. "What we should be focusing on right now is how the hell we're going to find Clary before Black Angel kills her. And I have a feeling that it won't be too long." He put his mask back on his face and rubbed his temple. "Christ, I don't know how I'm going to do this without her. I don't even know where to start." He sat down in a chair with his head in his hands.

"You could try searching empty warehouses, but that might take all night. You could use your superhearing to scope out anything suspicious, but that's no guarantee either." Simon shrugged taking the seat across from Jace. "You could check past locations that you guys have fought in and see if there's anything around there. I don't know."

Jace picked his head up at the last suggestion. He pulled his phone out and went to his maps app where all their past battles with Black Angel were saved. Then, he looked up at Simon with wide eyes.

"Do you have a map of New York?"

Moments later, Simon and Jace were staring at a taped up map of New York. A box of pins sat in Simon's hand. Jace looked down at his phone and then up at the map a few times before finding the same locations and beginning to place in the pins where they needed to be. After a couple of minutes, he stepped back and cocked his head at the newly marked map.

"I don't see a pattern," Jace murmured to himself feeling defeated. He narrowed his eyes almost trying to force himself to see some sort of pattern. But there was none. "There's no shape, no direction. These are completely random."

"Almost too random," Simon added quietly. He stepped forward pointing to one side. "See how there's a lot more pins over here and they kind of seem to dissipate as you move more to the west?"

"Yeah."

"And then the pins get denser again." Simon moved his hand from one side to the other. Then he went back to an area near the middle. "There are almost no pins near this spot that are closer than two miles. He was avoiding his real location without doing some stupid circle or star around it. He fought you guys randomly on purpose."

Jace's eyebrows shot up as he realized something. "Wait, Java Jones is right here. That means that the street that exploded the other day is right here. That leads straight to the empty section, it's got to have some meaning."

Simon turned to Jace, excitement written on his face. "I think we know where to check first."

Jace grinned back at the boy, but once his words registered his smile dropped and there was a record scratch in his mind. "Wait, wait, wait? Did you just say we? Sorry to break it to you, Simon, but this is a super-power-only kind of mission. You've been a great help, but I'll take it from here." He snapped a picture of the map and then shot the boy a two-fingered salute before heading off.


	13. Secret's Out

"Wouldn't it be nice if we were older? Then we wouldn't have to wait so long. And wouldn't it be nice to live together in the kind of world where we belong?" Clary softly hummed the tune of the rest of the song. She used her powers to draw on the floor around her. Bright flowers and shapes soon covered the area upon which she sat and, despite everything, it brought a smile to her face.

At this point, she didn't know how much time had passed. Probably a couple of hours. Surely the sun wouldn't be rising soon, not yet. There were no windows, though, so Clary couldn't really be sure of anything. She didn't have her phone either, obviously. What kind of villain would Sebastian be if he just let her keep her phone on her?

The door opened back up and a few clones walked in. They grabbed Clary by the underarms and hauled her out. Walking through the halls, she tried to figure out where she was, but nothing looked even relatively familiar and there were no windows around here either. So, Clary let her captors drag her along until they stopped at one door and pushed her through it.

Inside was a large machine. There were a few more clones as well. When one of them spoke is only when Clary realized that the real Black Angel was here as well.

"I'm afraid that it's time, Clarissa," he announced as the clones released her and the door slammed shut. There was a soft click from the other side; Seb probably had a key on him. "We are going to try to remove your powers from you. If it doesn't work then you will die."

"You don't have to do this, Sebastian." Clary glanced around counting the number of clones. To take them all out she would have to blind Sebastian. "It wasn't your fault."

"I know that!" He shouted and a burst of fire came from his palm.

Clary's eyebrows shot up in pure terror. _Well, _she thought, _that's certainly new._

"Right." Her voice came out a little uneven and so she cleared her throat. "Of course you do because you're a very intelligent man. That's how you made the machine that gave us our powers and how you're going to use this machine to take mine away."

"Flattery is useless at this point," he scoffed. Then, he nodded his head towards Clary and the clones started walking towards her.

Filling with panic, Clary flung her arm up and shot a bolt of light towards her brother's face. It hit him and all of his clones immediately vanished. As he grabbed at his eyes, Clary used her chromokinesis to create a sword made of solid color. She charged at the man but he moved his hand up and flung her back against a wall. When she managed to pull herself up, Sebastian was walking at her with daggers in his hands. She formed a color aura over her body and readied herself to fight.

Clary swung her weapon out and barely missed when Sebastian ducked. He tried hitting her but was deflected by the shield covering her. Clary kicked out connecting with his shin and he hit the ground. Once he was down, she tried creating a rope of light to tie him up with but he knocked her over as well. Soon, he had her pinned underneath him and somehow he was managing to break her shield.

Clary used her knee to hit him in the back. Seemingly merely annoyed by this, he took one of his daggers and stabbed her directly in the thigh. She screamed and her leg went limp. Using the flat of the other dagger to press against her throat, Sebastian snarled.

"You will not fight back," he said. "Resistance is futile and will get you nothing more than a slower death."

He got up and pulled Clary after him. She stood on one leg feeling the blood flowing down her other.

"Nice to see how much you care about family," she snarled and thankfully he didn't hear.

More clones reappeared and forced Clary to sit in the machine. She was strapped in and the dagger in her leg was ripped out, which hurt a lot more exiting than it did entering. Switches were flipped and buttons were pressed by different clones as they all went around the room doing various things. Sebastian just stood on the other end of the room staring at his little sister. A few times, he gave orders to his clones but for the most part, he just stood there in silence.

As the machine seemed to be just about ready, Sebastian finally moved. He entered a little side room that Clary could see into through the glass. He pressed a button and spoke into a mic as the clones that were on the other side began to disappear.

"I hope New York is ready for a blackout," he said, "because this is going to affect everyone."

Just as he was about to flip another switch, there was a large banging at the metal door. Sebastian jumped a little and narrowed his eyes at it. There was another bang and this time a dent was made. On the third bang, the door flew inward nearly hitting the machine that Clary was in.

"Finally," Jace said looking around and putting his hands on his hips. "It took me forever to find this place."

For just a split second, Clary was beyond happy to see the golden-boy. Happier than she had ever been to see anyone. Then, she remembered how he had been treating her lately and felt petty. If only there was some other superhero in the city that could've saved her...

Jace ran forward to the machine and looked around it trying to figure out how to get Clary out. Eventually, he just decided to break the straps. After getting the first strap off, he was hit by Black Angel and flew across the room. Clary didn't pay attention to their fight for more than a second before she started trying to pull her other restraints off with her one free hand. Every now and then, she glanced up to make sure that no one had died and that she wasn't about to be attacked. Once she got all her restraints off, she dropped to the ground. Her leg pulsing with pain, she limped over to the now-empty door frame.

Clary couldn't even tell what was happening in the fight anymore. Jace was running around at superspeed and Sebastian was flying overhead. It just looked like a big mess of black leather and spandex. With the amount of blood that she was losing, the battle was actually beginning to become blurry. Clary clung to the wall trying not to fall but that was becoming a more and more difficult task. So, when she saw that Sebastian had hit the ground and didn't seem to be moving, she called for Badger. He glanced from Black Angel to Clary clearly unsure of which to take care of. When Clary fell, he chose her.

* * *

It had been several hours. The sun was just beginning to rise now. Clary laid in her bed still asleep and Jace sat curled up in a chair a few feet away. Several times he had nearly passed out, but he wanted to stay awake for whenever she woke up. He was still in his costume too. Just because he had superhero business to discuss with her.

Isabelle came into the room then holding a cup of tea. It had been cute because while Simon now knew his secret, none of his other friends did. Therefore, they were all beyond freaking out about "Badger" being there. Isabelle more than anyone. She held the cup out to him while standing a respectable distance away.

"I figured you might want something to drink?" She didn't meet his eye either and he had to restrain himself from laughing. She was usually so confident.

"Thank you, Isabelle." Jace took the mug from her and she then left. He stared out the window after that and took a sip of his drink before grimacing and setting it down. Not only was he not a fan of tea, but Izzy had somehow managed to mess it up. Not that he would tell her either of those facts though. Not as Badger at least.

"The public did always like you more." At the sound of Clary's voice, Jace bolted up. He walked over to her bed as she pushed herself to an upright position. She grimaced. "Christ, my leg."

"Yeah, you might've gotten stabbed a bit."

She lifted the blanket and looked down at her bandaged leg. Noticing she was in her pajamas, she looked up at Jace. "You didn't change me, did you?"

He shook his head. "That was your friend Simon. Your other friends are here as well. I wanted to talk to you first though."

"Right, secret's out I guess..." She glanced over at the open door and Jace quickly closed it. She didn't look at him when he returned to her side. She just stared at the wall.

"Clarissa Fairchild," he spoke slowly. "Nice to meet you, partner." She still didn't look at him. "Listen, we were supposed to be doing that live interview anyway so during that we're going to clear up this whole fiasco. Make sure the public knows that you are not Clary." He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and she flinched back.

"I really don't need you here right now," she said softly. "Thanks for the search and rescue. I'll see you later. Now, bye."

Jace scoffed. "Did I do something to offend you?"

"Do you really have to ask that question?" She looked up at him. "Come on, Jace."

He froze. "How did you..."

"Isabelle tried giving me your phone number one time." She pursed her lips. "Yeah, it was pretty clear when you and Badger had the same number."

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I don't know!" She threw her hands up exasperated. "Because I liked civilian you and finding out your identity really freaked me out, and Badger and Blindeye had just started being friendly and I didn't want to mess that up. So, I don't know. I just didn't think I should say anything."

Jace looked down at his feet for a moment. "I have a confession then... I've sort of known your identity for a while too." When he met her eye again she was raising her eyebrows. "Before I figured out how to control my telepathy, I was with you and... I just sort of found out."

Clary scoffed. "Awesome."

"I'm sorry," he said and he sat down on the edge of her bed. "About everything that's been happening lately."

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Our personal lives don't matter right now. We have to focus on Black Angel. Whose identity I know, by the way."

"Really? Who is he?"

Clary was silent for a bit and there was pain in her eyes. She looked away from Jace before she answered. "He's... my brother. Sebastian."

"But he tried-"

"To kill me. Yeah, he did. And he'll keep on trying until he succeeds." She shifted where she sat and bit her lip hard as pain overcame her face. After a moment, she exhaled. "I'm assuming he'll be moving his base location so we have to find the new one as soon as possible. And I think there's something wrong with him mentally."

"No shit," said Jace, "he's insane."

"No, I'm serious. I think that something happened to him and he's legitimately gone crazy. He doesn't talk like he used to and he twitches all the time. It probably has something to do with radiation or his powers. I don't know, but he isn't right anymore."

Jace nodded. "I guess that would help explain why he's been attacking all of New York instead of just going for us."

"Yeah." Clary pushed her blanket off of herself and swung her legs over the edge of her bed. Jace stood up and put his hands out to her.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Getting up." She rolled her eyes. "And you should probably get going. I'm sure Alec is wondering where Jace is." When she stood, she nearly fell. She would've if Jace hadn't caught her.

"You can't walk."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

"Yes," she practically yelled at him, "I am. Now would you leave me alone like you've done so well for the past few days?"

At the last part, Jace's lips parted. He had been pushing her away but he hadn't thought she cared all that much. At least not so much that she would yell at him about it. When he said nothing, Clary raised her eyebrows at him expectantly. He released her and let her limp to her door. When she opened it, she didn't look back at him, just paused for a moment.

"I don't have a phone anymore. Black Angel took it. So, if you need to contact me you'll have to find another way." With that, she walked out of the room.

Instead of following her and going through the apartment to leave, Jace opted for the less embarrassing route and climbed out the window. He messed up and it would take a lot more than an apology to fix it.


	14. I Should NOT Have Said That

**Hope y'all like this chapter! Please review!**

Clary tapped her foot impatiently. She was standing backstage of a news studio waiting for her and Jace to go on. Well, not her and Jace. Blindeye and Badger. He was elsewhere though. Probably off talking to some interns or whoever. Clary rolled her eyes at the thought. When Simon approached her, she did her best to act pleasurable.

"Mr. Lewis," she greeted him. "Nice to see you."

"Likewise, Blindeye." He gestured for them to step away from the crowds and Clary nodded. They walked around a corner and Simon looked around a bit to make sure they were alone. "Are you ready for this?"

"Don't I have to be?" She had publically promised that she and Badger would appear for a live interview. That was over a week ago. Since the kidnapping incident, Clary knew they needed to make their appearance soon.

"I guess. I'm sorry that I pressured you into doing this. But it was my job and I had to ask." He rubbed his friend's arm sympathetically.

"Don't worry about it. Like you said, it's your job." Someone announced that Blindeye and Badger were on soon and Clary sighed. "I should get going." She took Simon's hand and squeezed once before walking away. She was approached by some guy who informed her about what was going to be happening for a moment. When she nodded in understanding, he left her alone.

Jace was soon at her side and they stood in silence for a few moments. He had his hands linked together behind his back and was rocking on his heels. From the corner of her eye, Clary saw him glance at her a couple of times. When he opened his mouth to speak, she held up a finger without looking at him.

"We're on." Just as she said it, a man came over and motioned for the two to head out.

The moment the lights and cameras were on them, Clary tensed up. Not only did she hate being in the eyes of the media, but she still had a limp and it was hard as hell to hide it. They took their seats and Clary made sure that she was a decent distance from her partner. The host of the show, a guy named Ragnor Fell, smiled widely at them both.

"We're so glad to have you two on," he said to them. "I think I speak for everyone in New York when I say that we've been dying for an up-close and personal interview."

"Upclose and personal isn't exactly our motto," Clary chuckled awkwardly tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "We are superheroes after all. Our secrets are pretty important."

"Well, speaking of secrets." Ragnor scooted forward to lean towards Clary. "Everyone's been talking about your identity. With the recent kidnapping of a girl named Clary Fairchild, we've got some ideas now."

Before Clary could say a word, Jace jumped in. "Clary Fairchild is a friend of mine. I've spoken to her in public a few times in the past and Black Angel even admitted to her in her time of captivity that that was why he took her."

"So then, Blindeye is not-"

"No," Clary said cutting him off. "No."

"Well, then that at least brings me to the next pressing question I have." He smiled at the camera before turning back to Jace. "Is this Clary really just a friend or is she someone more? I'm sure every girl in and out of the New York area is dying to know your dating status, Badger."

"She's, umm-" He glanced at Clary. "She's just a friend."

"You need Blindeye's help to answer that?" Ragnor raised an eyebrow and there was a collective 'ooh' from the live audience.

"No," Clary tried to laugh it off. "Of course, he doesn't. Why would he? Badger and I have a strictly professional relationship."

"Really? I mean, after a year of working closely together one might assume that something more would arise from the two of you."

Clary was offended now. Could a man and a woman not be close without being romantic anymore? And why was this all the interview was about? Didn't the public want to know more about them than just their romantic lives?

"Nope." Jace shook his head. Somehow, he was smiling like this wasn't the most awkward thing in existence. Stupid charisma... "Blindeye and I are just good friends. We've even managed to keep our true identities secret from one another for a whole year. That's how committed we are to keeping the city safe." Discreetly, he put his hand over Clary's to calm her. She looked over at him but his gaze was fastened on Ragnor.

For another half hour, the show went on like this. Ragnor would ask some question and Jace and Clary would try to answer it without giving anything about themselves away. As time went on, the questions thankfully got less and less personal. By the end, Clary was exhausted and more than thankful that the whole thing was done and over with. She and Jace walked off the set as fast as they could trying to avoid all the crazy fans that wanted to see them.

"So," said Jace slowly, "whatcha up to?"

Clary raised her eyebrows at him. "Umm, nothing. Going over to Alec's for dinner."

"Ah, so you mean my place of residence?" Jace was smiling and Clary let out a huff of a sigh. She had forgotten about that...

"Yeah, so I guess I'll see you later then." She started to walk away but he caught up to her.

"Hold on, Clary. Don't think too much about all those questions that Ragnor was asking us. He does that to all his guests. Gets under their skin in any way possible." He shrugged. "It's how he keeps a captive audience."

"I'm not thinking about those questions," Clary lied. "I just want to get home, get out of this costume, and take a shower." She hesitated before continuing. "Why does there have to be anything going on between us anyway? I mean... why can't we just be friends and partners and nothing more?" She threw up her arms exasperated and Jace chuckled a little. She glared at him.

"I guess you _really _don't pay attention to what the media says about us because we've been shipped together practically since day one. And as time passes by, people just push us together more and more."

"I'm sure your girlfriend doesn't appreciate that," Clary murmured without really meaning to. She didn't look at Jace but she could feel his questioning gaze on her.

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing." She shook her head feeling petty. "Absolutely nothing."

"It sounded like you said I have a girlfriend." He took a large step in front of Clary stopping her. "And I would like to know where ever you got that idea from?"

Clary rolled her eyes. "You realize that you don't have to hide things from me," said she. "We've been partners for a year and civilian friends for a couple of weeks. I don't care about what's going on in your life but you don't have to hide it from me." She tried to step around Jace but he caught her arm swinging her back towards him.

"No, I want to know why you think I have a girlfriend." There was something playful in his eyes and taunting in his smile. "Because I don't."

Clary's face fell. Her eyes felt like they were going to bulge out of her head. He had to be lying to her because she had clearly seen him with that girl in the coffee shop the other day. And Isabelle said that was his horrid ex. No one gets together with a horrid ex unless they're _getting together _with the horrid ex!

"No reason," she spoke quickly unable to break her gaze from his. "I don't think you have a girlfriend. Even if I did, it wouldn't be my business."

"Did you see me in Java Jones the other day?" Jace asked, his curiosity clearly growing.

At this, Clary rolled her eyes. "You know, a lot of people come into Java Jones. You're going to have to be more specific as to when."

Jace released her arm, his smile growing. "Clare-"

Once she was free, Clary brought up her right hand. "Well, got to go. See you later, Jace." And she closed her hand turning herself invisible. She darted off in the other direction leaving Jace far behind her. Boy was it a good thing that he had only developed telepathy and not infrared sensing like Sebastian...

* * *

"The village called," Clary shouted across the kitchen and she threw a piece of bread in Magnus' direction, "they'd like their idiot back."

When Magnus threw a piece of bread back, Clary ducked just in time. Alec stood off to the side shaking his head as he watched the sad scene unfold.

"Oh really?" said Magnus. "Well, then you'd better get going."

Clary gaped before grabbing the bag of croutons that was on the counter in from of her. Just as she shoved her hand inside, Alec rushed over and took the bag from her. She pouted but said nothing.

"Okay." Alec clapped his hands together. "This has gone on long enough. Now, you two go sit down and I'll finish cooking." He pointed to the table and both Clary and Magnus reluctantly took their seats at it.

Isabelle walked out from the bathroom then and paused as she took in all the food everywhere. After a moment, she just shook her head and looked at Alec.

"Hey, big brother, I think I accidentally clogged your toilet."

Alec spun to face her. "What? How?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, but it might have had something to do with me accidentally knocking a few tampons into it as it was flushing." She grinned showing all her teeth and Alec looked as though he was near combustion.

"Get Jace. Make him deal with it," he sighed. Isabelle turned back down the hall and Clary groaned.

"What?" Magnus asked from beside her.

"Jace," Clary snarled keeping her voice low.

Magnus raised an eyebrow. "I thought you two liked each other?"

She snarked. "That has nothing to do with anything." She crossed her arms over her chest. "He drives me insane."

Magnus just nodded. "Right..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No, it's clearly something. What?"

Magnus opened his mouth but then closed it and shook his head. When nothing further was said, Clary just rolled her eyes. After a little while, Isabelle came back out and sat down on the other side of Clary.

"Did you guys watch the Blindeye/Badger interview?" She asked loudly enough that Alec could hear too.

The whole Blindeye situation was explained delicately to the friend group. And by delicately, Clary meant that they got the story the media got. No one but Simon knew Clary's identity still and she'd prefer to keep it that way. Everyone else would just get to believe that she and Badger were real great friends. Whoo...

Magnus nodded his head in response to Isabelle's question. "Obviously, I've been waiting forever for it."

"And?" Isabelle leaned forward on her elbows. "What did you think about the whole Clary part?" With her head, she motioned to Clary. She didn't actually look at the girl though. "I kind of thought Badger was lying."

"About what? Them being an item?" Magnus smirked. "Definitely."

"Or you guys could just ask me," Clary suggested blinking. "You know, cause I'm right here."

"We can't ask you about it." Izzy rolled her eyes. "You would just deny it. But I mean, come on. The guy stayed by your bedside after you got stabbed in the leg and waited for you to wake up. I'm just saying, it's a little suspicious."

"She's right," said Jace as he entered the room. Of course, he just had to come in at that exact moment. "It does seem a little suspicious." He winked at Clary as he sat across the table from her.

"Listen," Clary said speaking to everyone but staring at Jace. "Badger is nothing more than a half-way decent superhero who I got the pleasure-" cue eye roll "-of speaking with on a couple of occasions. He's nothing more than a friend if even that." Jace cocked his head at her but said nothing. Isabelle and Magnus seemed dissatisfied by what Clary had to say but they moved on from the topic anyway.

The evening was spent talking about whatever. Simon wasn't there because he had to work but it was fun anyway. Clary spent most of the dinner doing her best to ignore Jace, but her mind kept on going back to him saying that he didn't have a girlfriend. Then why the hell had he been ignoring her lately? It was driving her nuts and she hated that it was driving her nuts. She couldn't let him have this much of an effect on her or else it was going to start getting in the way of being Blindeye.

When the night ended, Clary left for home rather quickly. She wanted to get back to see Simon for a bit before having a nice long sleep. Something that was still rather rare these days.

At home, she and Simon rewatched a Star Wars movie but talked over basically all of it. At this point, for them, Star Wars was more of like white noise. When it was over, they parted their ways and Clary made quick work of getting ready for bed. She was in her room and just about down when there was a tapping at her window. Startled, she walked over to see what, or rather who, it was.

"What do you want?" Clary asked opening up the window. Jace climbed in. Not dressed as Badger but just as himself.

"It's a funny thing," Jace said instead of answering her question. He leaned back against a wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "After you left the apartment today, I cornered Isabelle and I interrogated her as to why you might have gotten the impression that I have a girlfriend." Clary's face went white and he smirked. "It wasn't too hard to break her, honestly."

"Like I said." Clary shrugged. "None of my business."

"It sure seems to be though." Jace pushed himself off the wall and stepped towards her. "I mean, it sure seemed like you wanted it to be your business."

Clary shook her head but her heart was racing so fast that she could hear it in her ears. "No, I was just concerned that a friend of mine had gotten back together with a bad ex. Izzy told me that from what she'd heard from Alec, that girl wasn't exactly the greatest."

Jace narrowed his eyes. "Oh? But I thought earlier today you said that we weren't really friends?"

"That was me and Badger." Clary took a few steps back as Jace neared her but her back hit the wall. "Not me and you."

"Then we're friends?"

"S-sure." Her eyes went wide when he stopped just a few inches from her. He said nothing for a few moments before he shrugged with a smirk.

"Okay." Jace backed away. "That was all I wanted to know."

"What?" Clary was practically breathless right now. She didn't even pay attention as Jace headed back for her window.

"We're friends," he said sticking his legs out into the night air and sitting on her window sill. "And friends care about what's going on in each other's lives. Oh, and by the way, I've learned to control my telepathy." With a wink, he pushed himself out and left.

Clary scoffed and sat down in her bed. She crossed her arms over her chest and furrowed her eyebrows. This boy was absolutely unbelievable.


	15. Nobody Likes The Friend Zone

**Hope that y'all like this chapter! Please follow, favorite, and _please_ review!**

Clary slumped down on the couch, her feet swinging up to land on Simon's lap. He lifted the remote for the tv and muted what he was watching so that he could focus on the arrival of his friend. She was utterly exhausted and it showed. In the past few days, the fights with Black Angel had returned to the normal ones Clary had grown used to over the past year. Meaning she was cut and bruised on nearly every inch of her body, only now it was worse. Things were easier when she hadn't known that she was fighting her own brother.

"I feel like I'm going to die," she groaned.

"You look it too." Simon reached over and pushed a piece of bloody hair out of Clary's face. This wasn't the worst she'd ever felt though. "I'm serious. Here, let me go and get you some bandages and medicine." Gently, he pushed her feet off himself before getting up and stalking off to the bathroom. He returned with an armful of stuff.

"You're too good at me." She grinned cheekily only to get an eye roll in return.

"Yeah," he sighed, "I am." Shaking his head, Simon dropped the stuff down on the couch and got to work starting with the deepest cuts on her arm and stomach. His eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth turned down in a frown. "I'm getting worried about you, Clary. I don't like how injured you get in each fight. Every time you get worse and worse and one of these days I'm afraid you won't bounce back. You need to promise me that you're going to start being more careful out there. I know you have that protective color aura power. Use it."

"I do," Clary snapped. "It's just difficult to control that and do other stuff at the same time. Plus, with all of Black Angel's new powers, it's fairly easy for him to break my shield."

Simon stayed silent for a moment as he continued to wrap up his friend. Eventually, he spoke quietly. "How's Jace?"

She nearly scoffed. "Untouched, as always." It was still strange to her that Simon now knew both their secrets. She shrugged, trying to control her bitterness. "He's fine. I think. I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I don't know." Clary groaned and leaned her head back against the couch. "We see each other every day, we're constantly together. It's just... alright, can I be completely honest with you?"

"I'd be sad if you weren't."

"Then I have a confession to make." Clary picked her head back up and met Simon's eye. "Jace drives me crazy."

Simon grinned, shaking his head. "That's obvious, he makes everyone crazy."

"Not like that," she muttered. "I mean, he drives me _crazy_. Like I want him. When he's himself. When he's Badger. I can hardly concentrate. Which is what's so horrible about it because I am a superhero and superheroes _have _to be able to concentrate. That's why I have to keep my distance from him. So I don't die."

Simon's eyebrows were raised but he was still focusing on her injuries. "Well, that's certainly something. Have you talked to him about this?"

"God no," Clary scoffed, "but I'm pretty sure he knows anyway because of his stupid telepathy." Her head fell into her hands and Simon chuckled.

"Yeah, probably." Simon set aside the rest of the bandaging as he finished his work. He sat back down beside Clary on the couch and she rested her feet on him once again. Unmuting the tv, the two fell into a routine they'd picked up in the past few days. After a few minutes of silence, Simon got Clary's attention by setting a hand on her wrist. "Promise me that you're going to start being more careful out there." His eyes were dark and serious. There were sadness and pain there too.

"Okay." Clary nodded speaking softly. "I promise."

* * *

"I have an issue!" Jace flung Alec's door open. He hadn't been expecting anyone _but _Alec to be in the room and so when he saw Magnus sleeping in bed beside him, he spun around and stared out at the hallway. "Umm, my issue is not pressing until clothes are being worn by all parties in the room."

"Jace!" Alec yelled and the golden-boy peeked back to see his roommate standing and snarling at him. "We were just sleeping."

"Sure." Jace scratched the back of his head but did turn all the way to face Alec. "Of course you were."

Alec rolls his eyes. "Whatever, what is your issue?"

Jace glanced back at Magnus, who was now awake, before returning his gaze to Alec. "I have an issue."

"Yes, we've established that," spoke Magnus. He sat up in the bed but didn't get out. "What is it?"

Jace looked between them again. "Does he have to be here?"

Sighing, Alec walked out the door dragging Jace with him. He held up a "hold on" finger to Magnus and then closed the door. Raising an eyebrow, he stared down Jace. "What is so important that you've burst into my room in the middle of the night?"

Jace pursed his lips, then blurted it out. "I'm in the friendzone and I don't like it!"

At that, Alec's eyebrows shot up. He had to blink a couple of times to regain his composure. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he narrowed his eyes. "Clary?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Always has been." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I totally thought that she liked you too. How did you get in the friendzone?"

Jace shrugged. "I kind of did it to myself. I mean, I should be okay with being in the friendzone because I also decided that friends is best for us _but _I'm not really liking the fact that we're just friends. Only now it's too late to change that. Not that I could change it if I wanted to because that would create endless problems not only for us but for everyone around us too."

Alec got a weird look on his face and, when he didn't say anything, Jace took it upon himself to find out what he was thinking. _God, he's so paranoid. I don't know why I'm friends with him... then again, he's like my brother. I don't know what I'd do without him. So, I guess I have to help. _

"Okay," the boy said, "have you talked to her about this?"

Jace weighed that question in his head. "I mean, yes and no?"

"That was a vague answer in question form. I'm concerned."

"As you should be." Jace clasped his hands on both of Alec's shoulders. "Good god, man, I don't know what I'm doing with my life."

"That much," Alec said removing his hands from his shoulders, "is quite evident. I don't know what you want me to say or do here, Jace. This really sounds like a you problem."

"Fine," Jace sighed and he gestured back to Alec's door. "Go back to being happy with that beautiful boyfriend of yours." Alec had to fight back the smile but he was failing. "I'll just go wallow in my room until I fall asleep on a tear-streaked pillow."

Standing there in silence, Alec merely raised an eyebrow. Then, he patted Jace on the shoulder and went back to his room. Jace heard the lock click and he laughed a little. Alec loved him but there was a limit to the amount of Jace bullshit he would put up with. That limit tended to be lower at one am.

So, Jace went back to his room. Except, sleep didn't come to him. He just kept on thinking about Black Angel, or rather Sebastian. Clary's own brother was really the man trying to kill her? He was confused, to say the least. But if the man had some sort of insanity going on then that would certainly explain a lot about all of his attacks.

The hours passed slowly and when the sun began to rise, Jace threw his face into his pillow. Forcing himself out of bed, he went out to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee and make breakfast. It wasn't much longer when Alec and Magnus exited the former's room and greeted Jace. He would've figured they'd be sleeping in but knowing Alec... well, he never slept in.

"Izzy's coming over in a bit," Alec informed Jace as he took a seat at the kitchen island.

"So," added Magnus with a grin, "if you're making breakfast for all of us, add another plate." He raised his eyebrows hopefully and Jace rolled his eyes but got more ingredients to make food for all of them.

The three settled into a casual conversation as Jace cooked. Eventually, Isabelle did come over and joined the three. Over the past week, she'd basically taken to splitting her time completely between being at their apartment and being at Simon and Clary's apartment. That is when she wasn't at work or actually out with all the people in question. Nonetheless, she'd become a common appearance at their place. Jace found it strange that it'd taken them so long to meet considering how much he now saw her.

As the others talked, Jace rapped his fingers against the counter. He watched his friends talking on the couch for a minute further before he pulled out his phone.

_From Badger:  
__Emergency_

She replied immediately, obviously, and he smiled.

_From Color Freak:  
__Crap  
__Where?_

Yes, her name was still Color Freak in his phone.

_From Badger:  
__My apartment?_

_From Color Freak:  
__Do not say emergency  
__Unless there is an emergency  
__Jace  
__I am busy_

_From Badger:  
__Yeah? Doing what?_

_From Color Freak:  
__Not talking to you._

He rolled his eyes and set his phone back down. It felt like the only time he ever got to see her anymore was during battle. She practically avoided him at all costs when they were themselves. Even as superheroes, she did her job and then left. They weren't like their old selves. And he had really thought they were making progress. They were friends... He wanted to read her mind to know what she was thinking, but he promised he wouldn't. For her, he intended to keep that promise.

"You good?" Isabelle was suddenly beside Jace and he jumped a little. "Sorry, didn't mean to spook ya." She chuckled but then cocked her head at him. "Question repeated, you good?"

"Yeah, fine. Why?"

Isabelle shook her head, shrugging. "No reason, you just look off." She grabbed the pot of coffee, poured herself the last of it, and then walked off.

Jace groaned wanting to hit his head against the counter in front of him. Thankfully, he was able to restrain himself. Just as he was considering joining the other three, his phone went off.

_From Color Freak:  
__Screw you_

_From Badger:  
__I mean, sure. But why?_

_From Color Freak:  
__Because there's a real emergency now  
__Across the street from Taki's  
__Get here ASAP_

Shoving the device into his pocket, Jace tried to figure out a way to leave with a decent explanation. Eventually, he just decided to go with the truth. "I'm heading out." Everyone turned to him at his random announcement. "Meeting up with Clary. So, I'll see you guys later." With an awkward wave, Jace was gone.

It took him only a few minutes to arrive at Taki's. What he was greeted with was Clary- Blindeye- standing in the middle of the street staring at an Apple store across the street from Taki's. A crowd of people were well away from her but still watching. Simon was there too, with a camera focused on his friend.

"What's going on?" Jace asked as he approached Clary. She shrugged.

"I don't know. He's robbing the Apple store for some reason."

"And you haven't stopped him yet?" He raised an eyebrow at her earning himself an eye-roll.

"He has clones posted at every entrance. I've been waiting for you." She jerked her head towards the store and started walking. "Let's go."

Jace followed after Clary and watched as her body was enveloped in color. Strange, he thought since the battle hadn't even started yet and she was already putting up defenses. The two busted into the store together and immediately began taking out the clones. There were maybe a dozen of them but they were never as difficult to fight as the real Black Angel.

It didn't take long before the two had taken out every Black Angel in sight and swept the entire store in search of anymore. When they met back by the front door, Jace shook his head and Clary sighed.

"I guess Seb- Black Angel must have just sent his minions to collect some things for him. I can't imagine what he would've needed from _here_ though." She glanced around once more.

"Doesn't matter," said Jace. "He's not here. So, we should let the store owner and the police get a look to see what's all broken and damaged." They walked out and instantly a few police officers walked in.

Clary seemed to catch sight of Simon and he headed in their direction. She kept on walking with Jace at her side but wasn't making much of an effort to push Simon away like she did with other reporters.

"Was the real Black Angel there?" Simon asked.

"Nope," Clary answered shortly.

"What did he take?"

"We don't know," Jace said, "ask the police after they've checked."

"Do you two know what he's planning and why he would've needed tech like that?"

"We do not," Clary said. It wasn't a lie but it wasn't the truth at the same time. They knew what he was planning alright, they just didn't really know what he needed to do so. "If you wouldn't mind, we need to get going." Clary turned and sped away from Simon. Instead of staying back with all their fans for a bit like Jace usually did, he caught up to Clary.

"What was that?" he asked.

"What? I always shoo reporters away."

Jace rolled his eyes. "I know, but you were way nicer to Simon than you ever are to anyone else as Blindeye. Not worried that someone's going to catch on?"

She shrugged. "Him getting our fight on camera could be the difference between a raise or nothing. And no one will catch on."

"Alright, fair enough." He was silent for a moment, just walking at her side. "Whatcha doing now?"

Clary raised her eyebrows at him. "Umm, going home?"

"Want to hang out? You know, like _friends _do."

Clary opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Instead, she just shook her head. "Don't really have time for friends right now."

"Clary." Jace stopped her walking by putting a hand on her shoulder. She turned to him reluctantly. "Tell me what you're thinking."

"Why don't you just find out for yourself." And there was a hint of bitterness in her tone.

"Because I promised you that I wouldn't. You asked me not to read your mind."

Her expression softened. "Oh, I hadn't really thought that you kept that promise."

"Why wouldn't I have?"

"I don't know. Because things changed when we found out each other's identities." She ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know if I would've been able to keep that promise if I were you."

Jace smirked a little. "Oh yeah? You want to know what I'm thinking?"

She grinned back at him. "Nope. Not at all." His smile faltered a bit, confused. "Well, gotta go Jace." She gave him a little goodbye wave before closing her hand completely and turning invisible.

He groaned. "I hate it when she does that."

"Yeah, I'm still here." Clary's voice popped up from somewhere around him and he jumped.

"Christ! Why?"

She laughed a little and considering that he couldn't see her, it was the creepiest thing ever. "Bye." With that, he was pretty sure she was gone. Still, he didn't speak anymore of his thoughts out loud and just headed straight back home. It was going to be another long night.


	16. You Are So Drunk

**Sorry that I haven't updated in so long! It's just been wild with holidays. Anyway, hope y'all like this chapter even though it's just kind of a filler! Also, some people were wondering if Clary would get a new power too. To that, I say: just wait. **

The days were ticking by now and they were turning into weeks. They were slow and quiet and uneventful. To many people, this would be seen as a good sign. To Clary, this felt like just about one of the worst things ever. What could Black Angel possibly be doing? Why wasn't he attacking? He hadn't made a single appearance since his clones raided the Apple store. Where was he?

Clary tried keeping her head clear of these thoughts as she went about her normal civilian life. Currently, she was at work. Magnus was on his break, and she could see him sitting with Alec and everyone else at a table. She had declined to take her break early with him so the group could all hang out for a bit. She didn't need to be talking to Jace right now. Or ever.

Isabelle approached the counter and took a seat on an empty stool. Clary smiled up at her and rested her elbows on the counter. It was a slow day in Java Jones. This, due to the lack of Black Angel activity, was even less appreciated.

"What's up, Iz?" Clary wondered.

"Nothing." She shook her head. "I was just growing bored over there and figured I'd see how you're doing. Plus, you looked lonely."

Clary smiled and tried to look like she was busy working as she continued the conversation. "I was just spacing out. Everything's been so... off lately."

"Like what?"

"I don't really know." She did, obviously. "Things have been so quiet around here lately."

"I mean, yeah. What with the lack of Black Angel attacks and everything. It's been nice though. No new deaths or injuries. I can't imagine how relaxing it's got to be for Badger and Blindeye."

"Or nerve-wracking," Clary muttered and Isabelle raised an eyebrow. "I'm just thinking that they've got to be wondering what's going to happen next. When was the last time that Black Angel had ever gone quiet for so long?"

"You make a fair point," she agreed. Then, she shook her head. "Let's forget about all of that though. It's not our problem anyway. What do you say that we do something tonight and try to make that 'off' feeling go away? We've never just hung out you and me."

Clary nodded. "You know what, that might be nice."

"Good." Isabelle's smile was infectious. "I'll just cancel my plans with Simon and we-"

"Aww," Clary cut the other girl off suddenly feeling bad. "I don't want you to cancel plans you already have. We can just do it another night."

"Or I could invite Si along." She shrugged.

"Well, what would we be doing?"

Isabelle thought for a few moments. "I don't know. Bar, go to a club maybe."

"We really are different people, huh," Clary sighed. But she decided it actually would be nice to get out for once and agreed anyway. "Sounds good. Invite Simon if you want, but don't expect him to say yes."

"If I invited all the other guys too do you think he would be more inclined to say yes?"

Clary's eyes practically bulged out of her skull and she knew it. Immediately, she was stammering, searching for a solid way to answer no. "I mean, probably not. He's really only close with Magnus so I don't see why the presence of those three would at all change his mind on-"

"Hey, guys!" Isabelle shouted ignoring Clary's protests. Magnus, Alec, Jace, and Simon all turned to Isabelle at once. Clary groaned and let her head hit the counter in front of her in a rather loud bang. "Wanna do something tonight? Go to a bar or club or whatever?"

Not surprisingly, Magnus answered first. "Obviously. Alec and I will definitely be there." Alec attempted to protest, Magnus continued ignoring him. "Jace and Simon will certainly be coming as well."

"Who said that at all?" Jace questioned throwing up his hands in exasperation. "What if I was busy tonight?"

"Are you busy tonight?" Magnus deadpanned.

"Well..." Jace sighed. "I mean no, but-"

"Then you'll be there." Magnus smiled brightly as he turned back to Isabelle and shot her a thumbs up.

The girl turned to Clary and shrugged a little. "What can I say?" She smirked. "Magnus and I are certainly a force to be reckoned with."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." At this point, there was nothing Clary could do but just go along with it. And hope that there would be an attack tonight to get her out of this. "I should be getting back to actually working though." She gestured to the coffee shop around them and Izzy nodded.

"Okay, I'll text you the details for tonight later." As she reached the table, she turned to the boys. "And I'll text you guys too."

Clary stared at her group of friends for a moment longer. The more time that passed by, the more she wanted to tell the rest of them the truth. Actually, she was surprised that Magnus hadn't figured it all out yet. He had certainly seemed to be on her trail for a while there. It didn't matter though because he didn't know and that was okay. That was good.

* * *

That evening when Clary was home from work she sat on the couch watching whatever was on tv as Simon finished up something for the Times. It wasn't unusual for him to bring his work home. After a few minutes, Clary clicked the tv off. She pushed herself off the couch and walked over to the table that Simon was working out.

"What's that story about?" she asked genuinely curious since there was no Black Angel story to be written at the moment.

"Rising taxes," Simon answered deadpanned. The bored look on his face when he turned to her told her just how much he didn't like writing it.

"Sorry there's nothing fun for you to write about." Clary chuckled and headed off to her room so she could get changed for tonight. The group was going to a bar, mainly because Alec and Simon protested a club too much.

"Don't be," Simon called back, "I'm rather happy that things have been quiet around here. Your leg is finally healing properly for once."

Clary shook her head as she decided between two tops. She'd rather be staying in tonight. Relaxing and drawing without having anything to worry about. Though that was a huge lie because Sebastian was _always _on her mind. And anyway, she'd stayed in for the past week every single night. She'd gotten several new sketches done too. Art was coming back to her in her newly found boredom. But it still just didn't feel the same.

Done dressing, Clary walked back out to the main room. Simon didn't need to change and it was almost the time that Isabelle had set for them all to meet up.

"You ready?" Clary asked.

Simon glanced up at her and nodded. Then, he finished writing something and stuck his stack of papers into a folder. "Yeah, I'm driving." Holding up one hand, he waited until Clary tossed the keys to him.

At the bar, Clary found that Isabelle certainly had a way of bringing any event to life. The place was already packed when they got there but Isabelle's presence somehow made it seem even fuller than it already was. Clary decided that she would try to have a good time tonight. If not for the sake of Isabelle then for herself. She deserved it, right?

With that thought in mind, Clary followed Izzy to the bar. The girl ordered some shots and other drinks for the group and, when they came, offered one to Clary. She took it with every intention of drinking it. That is until Jace stopped her.

"Are you sure you should be drinking that?" He leaned back against the bar beside her. Clary looked to her other side to find that Isabelle had walked off with Simon.

"Why not?" Clary asked. She knew why not. She wasn't dumb. In fact, this would be the first night that she'd be getting drunk since she got her superpowers. Yeah, she had about a year's worth of sorrows to drown and the past few weeks events did not help.

"Well, I'm just imagining a drunk Blindeye having to fight Black Angel and the outcome doesn't look particularly good." Jace raised an eyebrow at her. In response, Clary downed a shot. It burned.

"The outcome is never good." She shrugged turning back to the bar and sitting on one of the stools. "And besides, he hasn't appeared for nearly two weeks. So, drink." She gestured to the glass that was in front of him. Jace looked down at it, his lips pursed.

"I... can't get drunk. My regenerative abilities don't allow it."

"Then why did you even come out?"

Jace opened and closed his mouth. "Designated driver." At Clary's disbelieving look, he sighed. "Like I said, imagining a drunk Blindeye."

"I can take care of myself, Jace," Clary said and she downed another shot. Apparently, her tolerance had turned to crap in the past year because she was already feeling pretty woozy.

"Clearly." Jace didn't say anything else, just stared at Clary. Then, he turned and walked away.

Clary let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Regaining the composure she still had, she grabbed her drink from the bar and walked off to find one of her other friends.

* * *

A few hours passed by and the night was turning out to be pretty fun. Of course, Jace had to have sober fun while he watched the rest of his friends get shitfaced. But he was enjoying himself nonetheless. As it turned out, playing pool with a bunch of drunks made it _so _easy to win. Now, Jace was sitting at a table that their group had claimed solely to keep their food and drinks on. Everyone else was doing something else. Isabelle was singing terrible karaoke. Simon was cringing watching her. Magnus and Alec were making out in a corner though Jace tried to avoid looking at that. And Clary was... somewhere. Actually, where was she?

As if on cue, the girl in question plopped down on the seat beside Jace. She was drunk, that much was clear.

"Where have you been?" Jace wondered slightly amused by her current disheveled state.

"I have been looking for you." She tapped him on the nose when she said that and Jace's curiosity peeked. He hadn't spoken much with her throughout the night since their interaction when they first got to the bar.

"And why were you looking for me?" The nice thing about drunks is that Jace doesn't have to read their minds to know what they're thinking, they'll just tell him.

"Because I wanted to do this." She leaned towards him and she would've kissed him had Jace not stuck his hand up stopping her. Clary furrowed her eyebrows at the hand that was now pressed against her lips. She leaned back, her face crinkled up in disappointment and confusion. "You don't like me," she said simply and it sounded like a toddler pouting. It nearly broke Jace's heart.

"You know that's not true." Jace reached out to grab her hand but she pulled it back from him.

"Then why won't you kiss me?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

Jace thought for a moment. "How much of this do you think you'll remember in the morning?"

She glared at him. "I'm not _that _drunk." The slur in her voice certainly begged to differ.

"Cool. So, in the morning you're definitely going to be beyond embarrassed and will try avoiding me for about a week. That's good to know." He smiled, shaking his head. "Listen, Clary, I think we both know how we feel about each other. But I can't kiss you because we can't be getting distracted. If Black Angel knocks you down I can't be losing my mind worried about whether or not you're okay because I still have to stop him. Lord knows that if we started dating I wouldn't want you to come along on a single battle." He set his hand against her cheek cupping it. "You know, I've had a crush on you since the beginning. Or rather, I've had a crush on Blindeye. Then, I met you and I started falling for you and finding out that you two are the same people... that was something."

Clary was staring intently back into his eyes. There was a part of him that was happy she probably wouldn't remember most of this in the morning. Another part of him wished she would.

"But you want to know what's really holding me back from kissing you right now?" Jace asked. His thumb was gently skimming over Clary's lower lip. She nodded her head. "When I kiss you, not if, it's not going to be while you're drunk. And when I kiss you, it's going to be perfect."

Jace dropped his hand from Clary's face and leaned away from her. Her eyes were wide and her lips were still a little parted. At that moment, Isabelle approached the table and seemed to break both of them from their trance.

"You guys about ready to head home?" She looked back and forth between them, hopefully not picking up on anything.

"Yeah." Jace cleared his throat and stood up. "I'll drive."


	17. That's a Lot of Cameras

**Another chapter today because why not. Hope y'all like it and please review!**

The next morning, Clary was walking down the street with sunglasses on to shield her eyes from the treacherous rays of the sun. Her head hurt too but the ibuprofen she'd taken was starting to do its job and helped a little. The worst thing about having woken up this morning wasn't the pounding headache she had though. No, the worst thing about waking up was remembering that the night before she had tried to kiss Jace. And then everything he told her afterward.

She was confused, to say the least. He had basically said that nothing could ever happen between them (which was her own rule so why was she so upset about it?) but then he had claimed that he was going to kiss her. Maybe he meant he would after Black Angel was dead. That made sense. But she didn't want to wait that long.

Clary groaned and continued walking down to Java Jones for her shift. She was almost there when someone shouted her name and then a hoard of people were suddenly surrounding her taking pictures and asking questions. She winced at the camera flashes and the loud shouting as she attempted to keep walking. This wasn't actually new. Since her kidnap and the interview, people had been swarming her constantly.

"Clary Fairchild! Is it true that you and Badger are just friends?" One of the people asked.

Someone else partnered that with: "Where did you guys meet? How do you know each other?"

And that was continued by, "Why aren't you two dating? Is it because of Blindeye?"

And there were more questions all about Clary's relationship to Badger and her apparent rivalry with Blindeye (what?) and if Badger claimed to be dating neither of them because really he was dating both of them or something weird like that. Clary kept pushing past everyone until she reached the doors to Java Jones. Then, she twisted around to face the crowd and pulled off her sunglasses. That second thing was a mistake.

"Listen!" Clary shouted and the group went quiet. "I do not have a rivalry with Blindeye. My relationship with Badger is-"

"What do you mean by relationship?" Someone cut her off and there were a few mumbles after that.

"Friendship! By relationship I mean friendship. Badger and I are really just friends." But she stuttered a little when admitting that and thus the crowd did not believe her in any way, shape or form. Clary groaned but, seeing that there was nothing more she could do, turned back to Java Jones and entered. Thankfully, the crowd didn't follow her in.

"What was that all about?" Clary practically jumped out of her skin when Jace questioned her. She scowled at him as she walked around the counter and grabbed her apron to start her shift.

"Why are you everywhere?" She hissed as she clumsily tied her apron around her waist.

"I'm here because of this." Jace raised his phone to Clary and she looked at the headline that he was showing her.

**Black Angel clones are being spotted all over New York today. Witnesses claim that they haven't moved or harmed anyone yet. Everyone is confused and we're all just hoping that Blindeye and Badger can figure this one out before it goes too far...**

"I-" Clary sighed, her head was still pounding. "Should we go and check that out now? Or do you think it's some sort of trap?"

Jace shrugged. "I don't know, but it doesn't seem like anything good. My guess would be that Black Angel is preparing for something."

"And once he sets his plans in motion, all those copies will start to attack," Clary finished the thought. She closed her eyes tight feeling stressed. Drinking the night before had been a horrible idea. She had wanted to drown her sorrows but all those sorrows were back today and they were hitting her ten times worse.

"Are you okay?" Jace asked. At that, Clary opened her eyes to meet his. She gave him a tired look that she hoped answered the question.

"My head hurts," she said and he didn't react.

"Remember anything from last night?"

Clary opened her mouth but stuttered. She turned away from him to start working. "I... don't know."

"Clare..."

"It's fine, Jace." She spun back to him and shrugged. "We're fine."

Jace cocked his head at her. Then, he started to leave.

"Wait!" Clary shouted before she could stop herself. She ran a hand down her face as Jace returned to her. "What did you mean... when you said 'when' you kiss me?" She didn't meet his eye as she asked the question but she could feel his gaze locked on her.

To her surprise, the next thing she felt was Jace pressing a kiss to her cheek. She turned to him startled. His expression was impossible to read and he didn't answer the damn question before saying, "Bye, Clary," and leaving.

She stood there with her mouth half open and her eyes bugging out of her head. Once he was out the door, Clary turned only to see Magnus standing in the doorway of the employee's only room with his jaw hanging open. She quickly turned away from him and started trying to act busy.

"Umm, Clarissa." Magnus approached Clary but she kept on ignoring him. "Clarissa. Clarissa Adele Fairchild!"

"What?" Clary finally turned to him and, after a few seconds of that look of disbelief, he smiled.

"Wanna go on a double date?"

Clary huffed and turned away from him again. "We are not dating."

"Then what did I just witness?"

"Nothing. A friendly peck on the cheek that was friendly between friends being friendly."

"It really didn't look all that friendly."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you, Magnus, because we're just friends." When Magnus didn't say anything in response, Clary turned to face him. He was on the phone. She furrowed her eyebrows and then he spoke.

"Hey, Jace-"

"MAGNUS!" Clary leaped at him attempting to pry the phone from his hands.

"Hey, so this might sound like an odd and random question," Magnus continued by pressing Clary's head down and swatting away her outstretched arms. Lord, why did she have to be so short? "But would you be willing to come to Java Jones real fast? I just need to see something."

Clary was practically whimpering at this point. She gave up in her attempt to stop Magnus and just sulked.

"Oh, you're busy?" Magnus frowned. "But you- what? Uh, yeah okay." Magnus hung up the phone but he was smiling once again. "Well, Jace can't come back here but he did say that he urgently needed to meet with you at 'the spot.'" Magnus wiggled his eyebrows suggestively but Clary's heart dropped. Black Angel was back.

"Shit." Clary whipped off her apron and started rushing out of Java Jones.

As she was leaving she heard Magnus shout, "Make sure to use a condom!"

Arriving at their spot, Clary approached Jace slowly. She felt awkward now and didn't know how she was supposed to act around him. He glanced back, probably having heard her approach, and then motioned to the city before them.

"When I left Java Jones, I saw one of the clones moving. So, I followed it. He's just sitting there. On top of that lamp post, see." Jace pointed to where the clone was and Clary followed his line of vision until she spotted it.

"So, then... what? He was just getting into position?"

Jace shrugged. "I don't know. Whatever the reason was for the clone to move, we need to be keeping a close eye on them. I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Me neither." Clary pursed her lips, studying the clone that was sitting atop the lamp post. There was a strip of dark blue across his mask that the real Black Angel didn't have. "It might be smart of us to keep a constant watch on the copies."

"How? There's only two of us and there's dozens of them spread out all across the state."

"Surveillance cameras." Clary turned to Jace. "We set up cameras to watch as many clones as we can find and we can keep the feed running in my house since Simon knows and would be willing to help."

"That's not a bad plan," said Jace, "but that's going to cost a lot of money. Where are we going to get all that equipment?"

"Well." A smile appeared on Clary's face as the plan hatched in her head. "The Apple store was so grateful that we prevented major damage to most of the place and saved a good chunk of their stuff that the clones had attempted to steal that they told me they'd be willing to help out if ever needed. I'm sure they'd be willing to spare a few cameras for their favorite heroes."

Jace smiled too. "See, things really are looking up." Clary raised her eyebrows at him and he rolled his eyes. "Come on, just be happy that we have this one win."

"Not a win yet, platypus," Clary said as she started to climb down from the building and head off to the Apple store.

All she heard Jace say was, "Really? Platypus? I thought we'd moved past that one!"

* * *

"Are they all working?"

Simon glanced from monitor to monitor. "I don't know, how many cameras did you guys install?"

"Eighty-three," both Clary and Jace answered at once. They were their civilian selves now so that if anyone walked into the apartment they wouldn't have to explain why Blindeye and Badger were there.

"Then yes," said Simon, "they are all working." He turned to the duo and held a remote out to them. "This is how you can change the screens to go from 1 to 2 and 2 to 20 or whatever. You can click up and down or type in a specific number. If I were you guys, I would go through each video and make a list of what number watches where."

"Thank you for all the help, Si," Clary said taking the remote from him.

"It's no problem. I have to be going though, so if you have any questions just text me. But try not to have any questions."

"Why?" Jace asked, the smirk prevalent in his voice. "Where are you going?"

Simon hesitated, then, "Isabelle's..."

"Aww," Clary teased and he rolled his eyes.

Once Simon was gone, Clary walked over to where the monitors were set up. They had four screens all split into four sections so they could see sixteen areas at once. Clary sat down in one of the chairs that was pulled up and Jace then took the other.

"This is going to be tedious, but I do think Simon's idea would be smart," Clary said.

Jace grabbed a nearby notebook and flipped it open. "Fine, then let's start with one. What are we looking at?"

* * *

A few hours went by and Clary was finding it difficult to keep her eyes open. At one point when Jace got up to go to the bathroom, Clary decided to move to the couch. She could still see the monitors from here and now she was more comfortable. She grabbed her sketchbook that had been sitting on the coffee table and flipped it open to a blank page. Starting a new sketch, Clary let herself relax a little.

"Whatcha doing?" Jace wondered over her shoulder. She hadn't even heard him come back from the bathroom.

"Oh, uh, I'm drawing." Clary showed him the city street she had started to draw. He walked around the couch and sat down beside her. The night had been long and the bags under his eyes let her know that he was just as tired as she was.

"I don't think I've ever seen anything you've drawn before."

"Yeah, I haven't had much time for drawing in the past year..." Clary stared at the tip of the pencil and where it should go on the page. She just didn't have the will to put it there right now.

"I'm sorry," Jace murmured.

Clary shook her head. "Not your fault. I'm sure you had to give up a lot of hobbies this past year too."

"Not like I had many to begin with." Jace kicked off his shoes and brought his feet up beneath him.

Closing her sketchbook, Clary set it back down on the coffee table. "We don't really know much about each other, do we?"

"Sure we do," Jace said not looking at her, "half the time you talk, I already know what you're going to say next."

"That's just because we've had very routine interactions in the time we've known each other." Clary shook her head. "What's my favorite color?"

"Red," Jace answered and Clary was surprised he got it right. "I just-" He ran a hand through his hair. "We have the same favorite color. I think I commented something about your costume in the first month we had our powers and... I don't know, I remembered."

"Hmm." Clary was staring at Jace but he was looking down at his hands. When she couldn't help but yawn, she decided to rest her head on his shoulders and close her eyes. He stiffened immediately. Then, after a moment, relaxed and clasped an arm around her waist. He was comfortable to lean on and he smelled good. So, Clary didn't necessarily mean to, but within minutes she was out like a light.


	18. There's Always a Freaking Love Triangle

**Hope y'all like this chapter! There's a bit of foreshadowing in it ;). Be sure to leave a review!**

"What-"

"-the-"

"-hell?"

Clary woke to each of those words being spoken by a different friend. First Izzy, then Magnus, then Alec. Simon stood in silence. Upon seeing said friends, Clary fell off the couch that she had been sleeping on. Upon her falling off the couch, Jace was disturbed and thus woke as well.

The next move that Clary made was for the remote that controlled the monitors. She hit the power button and they all turned off. Then, she turned to her friends who were still standing in the doorway.

"Good morning," Clary greeted them, her voice hoarse.

"Did you at least use a condom?" Magnus questioned and Jace buried his face into the couch though his muffled laughter could still be heard.

"Nothing happened!" Clary insisted. "We were just working on something and then we fell asleep. End of story."

"What were you working on?" Alec asked looking past Clary at the monitors behind her.

"None of your business." Clary crossed her arms over her chest with a huff. Alec put up defensive hands. "What are you all doing over here anyway?"

"Well, the four of us were going to head out for breakfast, but I had to grab something from the apartment first," Simon said.

Clary scowled. "So, everyone came upstairs?"

Simon shrugged. "I was kind of hoping to catch you guys in some position like that, so yeah."

Clary grabbed a pillow off the couch and whipped it at Simon. He ducked, and it hit Alec instead. "Nothing happened!" Clary shouted as she stormed back into her room.

Jace sat on the couch, his hands clasped in his lap. "Lovely morning, wouldn't you say?"

Simon shook his head suppressing a smile. "I'll just be a minute, guys." He disappeared into his room for a few seconds before coming back out.

"Not going to invite me out for breakfast with you guys?" Jace fake pouted.

Alec opened his mouth to reply, but Isabelle put a hand in front of his face and answered instead. "Only if Clary comes too."

Jace raised an eyebrow. "You know she was being serious, right? Nothing happened." Izzy only shrugged. "Fine, I'll go get her."

"Yeah, you will," Magnus said under his breath but everyone heard it. They all turned to him, and he just smiled.

Jace knocked on Clary's door and when she answered with a "What?" he opened the door. She turned to him and put her hands on her hips. "Can I help you?"

"That depends, do you want to go out for breakfast with everyone?"

She opened her mouth but was cut off when her own stomach growled. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed her wallet which had been on her dresser. "Fine."

The group headed out to Taki's. Since there were so many of them and Taki's was fairly close by, they decided to walk. This led to Clary once again being recognized and once again being bombarded by fans of Badger and Blindeye. The rest of her friends ended up getting pushed away from her as people swarmed around Clary asking her all the same questions that she'd been asked the day before.

"For the last time!" Clary practically screamed. "I am not dating the Badger!"

"But do you want to?" A voice shouted and suddenly everyone wanted her to answer that question and that question only.

"Let's just say, that I'm happy as I am. Okay?" Clary spotted Simon through a few people and reached out for him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her through the crowd. Once she was free, she made a run for Taki's. When there, it took another few moments for the rest of the group to catch up. Clary grabbed a booth for them all to sit in. When her friends finally joined her, they all just stared at her. "What?"

"What was that all about?" Alec demanded.

Clary shrugged. "Ever since my kidnapping, my face has been plastered everywhere. People love the idea of me and Badger dating."

"That's rather ironic, but go on," Simon said quickly.

"There's nothing more to say." Clary picked up her menu purposefully avoiding the gaze of her friends. After a full minute of silence, she finally looked back up at them. "What?!"

"What do you mean 'what?'" Isabelle scoffed. "I need more details."

"What details?"

"Details like," Izzy started, "_are _you and Badger dating? Because people always lie to the media when they're dating someone famous and I would totally understand if you were too but there's no reason for you to be lying to us because we are your friends."

Clary wanted to bury her head in the ground like an ostrich. "You literally caught me sleeping on the couch with Jace this morning, why would you think I'm dating Badger?"

"So then you're dating Jace?" Magnus gasped. All eyes were then on Jace but he was just smiling hard, clearly trying to contain a laugh.

"No!" Clary exclaimed. She held her head in both of her hands as she tried to shake this nightmare from her mind.

"Jace, do you have anything you would like to add to this?" Alec asked his friend.

Jace shrugged. "Nah, I'm just really enjoying watching this train wreck."

Clary lifted her head slightly only to glare at the golden boy. He winked and she groaned dropping her head again.

"So are we going with believing that Clary is dating Badger or that Clary is dating Jace?" Isabelle posed the question to the group.

"Why not both?" Simon added and Clary whacked him on the arm, hard. He scowled and rubbed his reddening arm.

"A triangle," Isabelle considered. "Mags, what do you think?"

"I think she could pull it off. She's cute enough."

"I agree." Isabelle clasped her hands together. "It's settled then, Clary is in a love triangle with the Badger and Jace. Any objections?"

Simon and Alec both muttered no and when Isabelle directly asked Jace, he just shrugged. "I'm fine with that."

"And is no one going to ask me?" Clary whined.

"No, darling," said Magnus, "because we already know what you're going to say and, quite frankly, we don't care."

"As expected," Clary said giving up. "I suppose we can then change the subject now that that's been decided?"

"Fine, fine," Isabelle said waving a dismissive hand at Clary.

That morning was spent talking about various topics. Clary didn't pay much attention. Her mind was stuck on Jace. She closed her eyes hard because her mind shouldn't be on Jace. He's just a distraction. She had always done so well as Blindeye- keeping the secret, not being distracted- but then Jace showed up and she didn't even know who she was anymore. She needed a way to fix this. She needed to just lose her memory or something. Lose her feelings for Jace...

"Clary." Simon's voice broke her from her trance. Everyone was standing up. Apparently they were leaving. "You ready?"

She looked down at her half-eaten plate not having been all that hungry in the first place. Then, she nodded and stood up. "Yeah, sorry. I was just spacing out."

When they were walking out the door, Jace slowed down to Clary's pace and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Thinking about the Black Angels?"

Clary pursed her lips. "Something like that."

* * *

Clary spent the rest of the day holed up in her apartment watching the camera feed. Jace was out patrolling as Badger, and Clary found herself periodically refreshing her Instagram feed to see a few new pictures of him with civilians every now and then. It seemed that he was doing more showing off than patrolling.

Simon was at work and so Clary found herself all alone. She didn't necessarily mind the solitary, but it was getting rather boring.

When Jace showed up on one of the cameras, Clary turned her attention to it. He glanced at the camera but didn't otherwise make an acknowledgment of it. People weren't supposed to know they were there. Instead, he approached one of the copies and Clary zoomed in so it was focused on the two of them.

Jace waved a hand in front of the Black Angel. He walked around the thing and jabbed at it a couple of times. Clary cocked her head at him, wondering what he was doing. Then, he pulled out the sword strapped to his back. He wound back and just as he swung forward, the copy ducked. It didn't fight back, it just ducked and stood back up. Jace narrowed his eyes looking upset. He swung again, this time from a different angle, and the copy dodged him yet again. This attempt was made two more times and both times the attack was dodged.

When Jace stepped out of sight of the camera, Clary leaned back in her chair letting her attention go from one screen to the next. She pulled out her phone, about to check Instagram again, when the front door opened. Turning, she saw it was Jace.

"What were you doing?" Clary asked him as he stepped towards her and the screens.

"I wanted to test if they would react," he answered. "They do, but not how I had expected." He slowly lowered himself into the chair beside Clary and stared at the screen that showed where he had previously been.

"So, they don't fight back," Clary started, "but we can't kill them."

"Maybe... they're saving their strength?" Jace offered. "Maybe the real Black Angel just can't use his powers to focus on giving them fighting orders right now."

"I don't know." Clary ran a hand through her hair. "Sebastian's been getting stronger."

"What if we talked to him?"

Clary furrowed her eyebrows at Jace. His expression was serious and full of concern. She shook her head at him and looked away. "I have no idea where he lives."

"But he's-"

"I know that he's my brother!" She snapped. "I haven't seen him in years."

Jace didn't say anything in reply to that. Hopefully, he had realized that he'd crossed a line. He pursed his lips together, his eyes fixated on the screen. He was holding something back. Part of her wanted him to say it aloud, the other part didn't want to know any of what he was thinking.

"We're outnumbered," Clary muttered under her breath, sick of the silence. "We're out powered. I don't know why we haven't given up already."

"Because we can still win." Jace set a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened and looked down at it before looking back up and meeting his eye. "We always win."

Clary broke her gaze from Jace. She stared intently at the screen for a few moments until she felt his hand drop. "Don't make promises you can't keep," was all she said.

Jace stood up and walked back towards the door. He paused though and turned to Clary. "You wanna go on patrol?" he asked. "I can stay here for a little while and watch the monitors."

Clary opened her mouth but stuttered. It might be nice to get out for a little. And it was getting late so there would be fewer civilians out to gawk at her and question her relationship with Badger. Yeah... she couldn't escape those questions no matter what persona she was disguised in.

"Sure," Clary ended up saying to her own surprise. She got up and Jace started back to her. "Just for a few hours, then I'll come back to watch with you."

Jace only nodded but he was smiling. The boy took his seat back and pulled his mask off his face. He wasn't looking at Clary now but she found herself watching him for a few extra moments. Then, she shook her head at herself and opened the front door.


	19. Let's Make a Deal

**This is the start of the _real _drama. I'm excited for what's to happen next! Please leave a review and be sure to favorite!**

Jace was doing something that he probably shouldn't be. And he knew it. But who was there to stop him? And it really wasn't that bad of an act anyway. He was just looking something up. He was looking up someone's private information to be exact. One could even say he was internet stalking. Well, attempting to internet stalk. He couldn't find the damn person.

"If I just knew a middle name this might be easier," Jace murmured to himself. He rested his hand on the keyboard in front of him.

Sebastian Fairchild

Nothing. Why was nothing coming up? He had searched Clary's name and gone through all of her social media feed in order to possibly find her brother. That had been a fail.

From Clary, Jace had found their mom. So, he went through their mom's feed, not that she had much to begin with, and it was basically all about art. Another fail.

Jace had even gone back to the cemetery that Sebastian had sent them to that one day. He copied down the name that was on the tombstone and went back home and researched that name too.

Jace thought about it hard. He rolled his neck back and stretched out his legs a little. Why was this Valentine Morgenstern important to Clary anyway? And how did Sebastian know about his death? These were questions that nobody had ever bothered to explain to Jace.

Then, it hit him. Sebastian's dad had died shortly after Clary and Jace got their powers. Well, according to the tombstone, so did Valentine. This man apparently had significant value in Clary's life even though she hadn't seen him or heard from in long enough to not know he was dead.

Valentine was her dad. But then, why did he have a different surname? Divorce, duh. Jace hit himself on the head. He could be rather dense at times.

So, Jace typed in Sebastian Morgenstern. Finally, he was getting somewhere. This name was connected to Clary and Jocelyn, her mom. It was also connected to Valentine. These were the answers Jace needed. At least, that was what he thought until he discovered that there was no record of this Sebastian Morgenstern in the past 8 years. It was like he just jumped off the face of the earth.

Jace groaned loudly, ready to bang his head on the counter, when the front door opened and Isabelle and Alec walked in. Jace minimized the tab quickly. He was sitting at the kitchen island.

"Hey," Alec greeted him. "What have you been up to?" He eyed the laptop probably having noticed Jace's fast reaction.

"Nothing," Jace replied, "just watching YouTube."

Alec glanced at the time. It was almost noon. "Okay, well Magnus invited everyone over for dinner later. You want to go?"

Jace grinded his teeth, thinking. "Umm, maybe. I don't know right now. We'll see what I'm doing." Then, he stood up taking his laptop with him and headed for the door. "I'll see you guys later." Before either of the siblings could respond, he was gone.

Jace went down to Java Jones and continued his research. He knew that Clary wasn't working today because she'd informed him that she would be staying home in order to monitor the Black Angels. But Magnus was working and he periodically came over to where Jace sat making it rather hard for him to remain discreet and get any actual work done.

"Mags, don't you have work to do?" Jace questioned with a sigh.

Magnus shrugged. "Depends. Define work."

Jace shook his head and turned back to his laptop. "Listen, I'm kind of busy so if you wouldn't mind..." He trailed off expectantly only to look up and find Magnus staring at him with a lack of caring in his expression. Finally, Jace gave in. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"I want to ask Alexander a rather important question today but I feel like I should ask you first. It's not that I care about what you think, it's just that I have this stupid moral compass telling me that you should know about it before I ask him."

At this, Jace slowly closed his laptop. He raised one eyebrow and gave his attention to Magnus. "Alright, well, what is it?"

"I'm going to ask Alec to move in with me."

Jace nearly choked on air. He stuttered trying to find the right words. "Well, that's- that's great."

"You think so? Because I was worried that you wouldn't want him to move out."

"Well, I'm not going to lie, I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to pay for my apartment now, but I'll figure something out."

Magnus pursed his lips. "Actually, that's sort of how I came to think of having Alec move in with me. You see, I was having a discussion with Isabelle-"

"Oh, boy..."

"-and she was talking about how her roommate just moved out and so she was going to be needing a new one and we were just talking about this and then we came up with the idea that what if Alec moved in with me and Isabelle moved in with you." Magnus was smiling, albeit a little nervously. Jace's eyes were wide.

Move in with a girl? A girl like Isabelle? Well, that would certainly be an adventure. It's not that he hated the idea, but rather that he wasn't too sure of how Simon would feel about it. But it was only Isabelle, after all, and Jace had gotten along perfectly fine with her since they'd met. So, if she was alright with it then he supposed that he was too.

Jace shrugged. "Alright, if Alec wants to move in with you then I'm willing to partake in this strange roommate swap." He held out his hand for Magnus to shake and the other man took it happily.

* * *

The day was growing dark. It had been decided around four pm that Jace would not be going to the dinner Magnus was hosting. Sure, he would love to witness Alec's expression when his boyfriend proposed them moving in together, but there were far more important things to take care of tonight. Things such as Sebastian Verlac.

Yeah, he found him.

Now, it was nearly seven and Jace was standing in front of a ratty little house in a torn-up neighborhood that he was sure had been abandoned. But this was where the internet said Sebastian lived. So this was where Jace was.

He hesitated before going up the steps and knocking on the door. The wood of the porch beneath his feet creaked and for a moment he worried that it would break beneath him. He waited for a minute, then another. He was growing impatient and just as he was about to leave, the door opened. Before him stood a tall man with platinum blonde hair that completely contradicted the pitch black of Black Angel's. His eyes were so brown they were black and his skin was porcelain white. He looked nothing like Clary.

The moment Sebastian's eyes landed on Jace, he stumbled a little backward. Jace took a step towards him, his hands outstretched to show that he held no weapons and meant no harm.

"I just want to talk," said Jace.

Sebastian's eyes were wild and wide. Before he spoke, one of his eyelids twitched. "How did you-"

"The internet's a pretty great place," Jace answered before the question could be finished. He took another slow step toward Sebastian. "So, let's talk."

Inside, the place was full of equipment that Jace couldn't even pretend to know what it was or what it did. He glanced around at the old wallpaper and the stained floors as they walked deeper and deeper into the house. Suddenly, Jace got the feeling that this was a bad idea and he should've brought a weapon along.

He focused on the back of Sebastian's head trying to read what he was thinking but he couldn't get a single word. There was something blocking his powers here. Yeah, this was a bad idea.

Soon enough, Sebastian was motioning for Jace to take a seat at a table. They sat opposite one another and there was silence for a few moments, neither knowing exactly how to start. It was only when the clock rang signaling the new hour that Jace was snapped back to reality and realized he was the one who had come here in search of answers. Ergo, he should probably start talking.

"So, what should I call you?" Jace started with and Sebastian cocked his head. "Black Angel or Sebastian?"

"Sebastian is fine."

"Okay." Jace nodded his head. He was fiddling with his own fingers, his nerves taking over his body. "I came here because I wanted to speak with you. I wanted to talk outside of a battle zone or anything. I just want to talk. I want to come to some sort of peaceful solution here. I don't want anyone else getting hurt."

"Where is my sister?" Sebastian questioned instead of acknowledging any of what Jace had said.

"She doesn't know I'm here," Jace answered honestly.

Sebastian was silent for a second, then he rested his hands on the table. "I'll offer you a 'solution,' as you put it, to our battles. In this offer, only one more person needs to potentially be hurt."

Jace bit his lower lip, already feeling like he knew what was coming next. "Alright, shoot."

* * *

"You're telling me," Clary said, "that you're going to be moving in with Jace?" She raised her eyebrows at Isabelle, surprised by this.

The two were sitting at the kitchen table while Magnus and Alec were sitting on the couch. Simon was in the bathroom. They'd just finished eating dinner and were now lounging about. Magnus hadn't actually asked Alec to move in with him yet, but Isabelle had filled in Clary on all the details.

The brunette nodded. "Mags said he spoke to Jace earlier today and now all that needs to happen is Alec has to say yes."

"Which he will."

"Oh, of course." Isabelle smiled glancing over at her brother. "I'm really happy for him."

"Me too," said Clary, "for them both. I couldn't imagine a more perfect couple."

"Maybe you and Jace?" Isabelle suggested turning back to her friend. The smile on her face was evil.

Clary rolled her eyes. "Why are you so obsessed with the notion of me dating Jace?"

"Because you two would be amazing together! And I'm just saying, if I move in with Jace then you can come over to visit me as much as you want." She not-so-conspicuously coughed putting the slightest of smiles on Clary's face.

"Jace and I would be..." Clary trailed off, searching for the right word. "Too complicated."

"What makes you say that?"

She opened her mouth but promptly closed it. If she could just tell Isabelle that they were a superhero duo then that would make this explanation a whole lot easier. But she couldn't, so she had to settle for cryptic. "We just would be."

Isabelle groaned and stood from her chair. "Whatever you say Ms. Downer, but you know deep down that I'm right." She walked away and joined Alec and Magnus on the couch.

Before Clary got up to join them, she whispered to herself. "No, I know on the surface that you're right."

* * *

"It sounds like a pretty fair deal, wouldn't you say?" Sebastian cocked his head at Jace whose face was a little pale but otherwise gave no sign of bother.

"I'd say so." Jace gulped hard and, when Sebastian stood, so did he. "Say we make it a week?"

He considered this. "Five days."

"Six."

"Deal."

Jace nodded. He started to head towards the door but paused in the middle of the hallway. "And I just want to know, Sebastian, why attack all of New York instead of just going after Clary and myself?"

"My father went to hospitals all over the state in search of medical treatment over the course of two years. Nearly all of the places he sought treatment in didn't believe his symptoms or said that he wasn't as ill as he claimed. It was only when the cancer had reached an incurable level that he was given any attention at all." Sebastian's face was hard. Jace was going to take this answer and leave when the boy spoke again. This time, his voice was softer and his head hung low. "And they took us away from him."

"'Us?'"

"Clarissa and myself. We were barely kids, only toddlers. Our parents had been divorced and in the ruling, the state didn't allow either of us to see him at all."

"That's not the fault of the civilians in New York," Jace said keeping his voice low. "They're just innocent people."

"Nobody is innocent." Sebastian sneered looking up. "They all deserve to pay one way or another."

"But you agree that you'll stop attacking them with this deal?" Jace questioned, worried that by bringing all this up Sebastian would go back on his word.

"Yes," he said, "I'll stop. But until the deal is seen through, the copies stay where they are."

Jace wanted to ask why, but he felt it was a bad idea. Instead, he nodded his head and left.


	20. If You Know, You Might As Well Be Useful

**Hope y'all like this chapter, sorry it's on the short side. Be sure to leave a review!**

"Hey," Clary greeted as she walked up beside Jace. They were both in their costumes standing atop a building that overlooked three Black Angel copies. Jace knew there was nothing to be worried about and yet he still felt the need to patrol about. He didn't know how Clary found him though.

"Hey," he responded in a hard tone and without looking at her.

"Where have you been? I figured you would've gone to Magnus' last night. And you never came by to watch the monitors today."

The sun was setting on Jace's first of six final days. He had to distance himself from everyone to make this easier. Even Clary.

"I was busy. I watched the monitors last night while you were at Magnus' and then I slept in late today and decided to go patrolling afterward." He held his hands behind his back. From the corner of his eye, he could see that she was turned towards him. "Is that an issue?" It wasn't so hard distancing himself. He just had to act like he used to.

"Umm, no." Clary turned away from him. "I just- no."

"Good." Jace took a step forward. "Well, I'm off to circle the neighborhood a few times." He tipped a fake hat at her without actually looking at her. Then, he leapt from the building and Clary was left alone on the roof.

"What the hell was that?" Clary wondered aloud to herself. Her eyebrows were pinched together and her lips were turned down in a tight frown.

Shaking her head, Clary headed back home. She got into her civilian clothes and joined Simon on the couch as he watched the news. He nodded to her in greeting and she half-smiled back. After a second, Simon muted the tv and turned to Clary.

"Is something wrong?"

She smirked a little. "I'll never understand how you can read me so well, Lewis."

He smiled back but then gestured with one hand. "Alright, out with it then. What's up?"

Clary shook her head. "Nothing, really. Just a bit of an off day, I guess."

Simon frowned. "Oh come on, Fairchild. I know you better than that. What happened?"

She sighed knowing he wouldn't let up until she spilled. "I went out to find Jace just now, hence why I was in costume, and he was just... off. I mean, it's not like he told me off or was a total ass or anything but he was being kind of cold and I could tell that something was wrong."

"You going to address him about it?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not. It's probably just a mood or something and it'll pass by tomorrow."

"If you say so." Simon unmuted the tv just as the reporter was announcing a ten car pile-up on the Brooklyn Bridge. He pursed his lips and turned back to Clary. "You should probably go help with that, right?"

She sighed. "Probably, yeah." And with that, she was off.

* * *

Jace didn't really speak to Clary during their little car-save. He just pulled a few people out of some burning vehicles and was on his way. When he got back to his apartment, he found that Isabelle was there moving some boxes in. Alec was probably doing the same thing but at Magnus' apartment. Jace helped Isabelle move her stuff in but started thinking as he did so. She was going to need another new roommate and he couldn't just disappear without a trace. Well, he was going to try to but who knew how that would work out.

"Hey, Iz," Jace started. She hummed in response, only half paying attention to him as she set down a large box. "I gotta talk to you about something."

"Yeah?"

"Well, it's just..." he trailed off unsure of himself. And the fact that she wasn't even looking at him didn't help much. Jace twirled the 'partners in crime' bracelet on his wrist suddenly feeling a tinge of guilt. "You're going to need to find another roommate."

At that, Isabelle whirled around. "What do you mean? Do you not want to be roommates with me? You could've just said so in the first place instead of getting my hopes up like this and all. I mean, I'm selling my apartment and I've already moved almost all my stuff over here. Alec is gonna be real mad when he finds out about this. You should've just been honest in the first place, Jace!"

"No!" Jace held up his hands stopping her. "That's not what it is. It's not that I don't _want _to be roommates with you. It's just-"

"It's just?" She put her hands on her hips and waited with one eyebrow raised.

Jace sighed. "If I tell you something, you've got to promise you won't tell another soul."

And her interest was peaked. Isabelle walked over to the couch and motioned for Jace to sit down beside her. When he did so, she waited in silence for him to go on. Jace took a deep breath. He couldn't believe he was doing this.

"I'm Badger."

Izzy didn't react at first. Then, slowly but surely, her eyes began to widen and her jaw completely dropped. All she did was stare at him and for a moment he thought she might be having a heart attack.

"Iz? You okay?" Jace waved a hand in front of her face and she still didn't move. "Isabelle?"

"That explains," she finally spoke, "so much." Izzy shook her head regaining her composure. She tucked her legs under herself and leaned forward towards Jace. "Wait, so you're seriously the Badger? No lie?" He nodded. "Woah, that's insane..." Then, something seemed to hit her. "OH MY GOD! I've made a complete fool of myself in front of you so many times! Agh!" She slapped him on the arm and Jace gaped.

"What was that for?"

"For not telling me sooner!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "So, does Alec know?"

Jace opened his mouth but quickly closed it and shook his head. "You're the first person _I've _purposefully told."

"What does that mean?"

"That means that there are two other people that know. And no, you cannot know who they are."

Isabelle scowled but didn't argue. "Alright, well why tell me? And why do you have to move out? You've been roommates with Alec for a year with no apparent problems."

"It's not that I'm going to be moving out," Jace started to explain, "it's that things have gotten complicated, and in five days I'm not going to be around anymore. And I felt like I had to tell you because you're going to need a new roommate and I haven't exactly figured out what I'm going to tell everyone else yet."

"Wait, why are you disappearing in five days? Jace, what's going on?" She reached out and took one of his hands in her own. It was comforting but it almost made him start crying. This was becoming harder than he thought it would be.

"I made a deal with Black Angel." Now that Izzy knew who he was there was no point in holding back the rest of it. "But before I tell you anything else you _have _to promise me that you're not going to tell _anyone_. Even after I'm gone. Promise?"

Her eyes were filled with worry, but Isabelle eventually nodded. Then, she took a deep breath and sat up straight. "I promise."

"Good." Jace pulled his hand back from the girl and started fiddling with the bracelet on his wrist. "Black Angel wants to remove my and Blindeye's powers. Either that or he wants to kill us. It's a little hard for him to perform the former of the two actions if we're always resisting him. So, I've promised Black Angel that I will turn myself into him for him to experiment on or kill as long as he promises to stop his attacks. He doesn't actually want to hurt Blindeye anyway. Giving myself up is a small price to pay for the safety of every single person in New York."

_What an idiot,_ Isabelle thought and Jace heard, _I can't believe he's really going to do that. What about the rest of us? What about Clary?_

"Hey," Jace said trying not to smile, "so did you know that I can read minds?" He raised an eyebrow at her and her eyes went wide. "And what about Clary?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she tried.

"You do, so out with it."

"You already know what I'm going to say."

"I do, but why don't you say it anyway? Just so we can clarify that we're on the same page."

Isabelle sighed and rolled her eyes. "You like her. You're practically head over heels for her. Are you really just going to disappear without ever telling her how you feel?"

"She knows how I feel." Jace broke his gaze from Isabelle.

"What? Then why haven't-"

"Because she's Blindeye!" He looked back up to find that Isabelle's jaw was practically on the floor. She was frozen in place again. "Aw shit." He hadn't actually meant to announce that too. Jace groaned and stood up. He grabbed his phone from the table and dialed a number.

"Hey," Jace greeted when the person answered. It was a long and drawn out 'hey' that clearly said 'something is wrong.'

"Hi?" Clary greeted back. "Is everything okay? Why are you calling me?"

"Well." His voice was an octave above its usual tone. "I may have royally screwed up."

"By the Angel, what did you do?"

"So, you know how Isabelle is moving in with me?"

"Yeah..."

"So, she knows who we are."

"JACE!"

"Hey! I said I screwed up!"

"How did you-" She sighed and he could practically see her pinching the bridge of her nose. "She's there for one day and you spill. How on earth did this happen?"

"The 'how' isn't all that important. I just figured that I would let you know. Alright, I'll let you go then. Talk to you later, red. Bye!" Jace pulled the phone away from his ear. He could hear Clary beginning to protest on the other side but hung up anyway. Then, he returned to Isabelle. She was still in shock. "Great, so whenever you find that you have the ability to speak again, I need your help with making Clary hate me."

That seemed to pull her back. Isabelle blinked and furrowed her eyebrows at him. "You what?"

"I need you to help Clary hate me. If you know our secrets then you might as well be helpful."

"Why?"

Jace sighed. "Do I have to explain this all five times? I'm disappearing in less than a week. I need to make it so that Clary won't be as inclined to try and find me. Ergo, she needs to hate me."

"But-"

"I don't care if you think we're destined to be together. I'm trying to save the world and it'll be a lot easier if I make Clary hate me."

Isabelle pouted. "Fine, but I won't be happy about it."

Jace broke out into a wide smile. "No one's asking you to be."


	21. Really? Again?

**I know you're all getting rather anxious for some Clace, but it ain't happening for a bit... Trust me when I say that when it does happen, it'll be spectacular!**

_This doesn't make sense_, Jace thought to himself. He kicked back at a Black Angel copy just before it could collide with him. Then, he whirled around to fight another.

They weren't supposed to be active. They're just symbols, threats. At least, that was what Sebastian had told Jace. And anyway, they had a deal. These guys weren't supposed to be fighting. There was supposed to be no more fighting at all. _That was the deal_.

Jace groaned knowing that business with villains is tricky and he probably missed some loophole during their conversation. He kept on fighting, trying to fend off as many copies at a time as he could. Clary was somewhere nearby. He couldn't see or hear her with everything going on but he knew she was fighting some copies herself.

When one of the copies blew fire breath at Jace, he barely had time to duck. Standing back up, his eyes were wide.

"Well," he said aloud to no one in particular, "didn't know they could do that."

"If Black Angel himself is getting stronger," Clary said appearing out of nowhere and startling Jace, "then I'm assuming his copies are growing stronger too."

She held out her right hand and in it grew a staff made entirely of solidified light and color. Clary spun it around and swung out at their foes. Jace watched, admiring her for a few moments. When she was punched in the gut and had her feet swept from under her, he remembered that he was supposed to be fighting too. At first instinct, Jace wanted to help Clary get up. But he remembered that he needed to be keeping his distance and instead left her on the ground.

This fight was a shorter one which Jace appreciated. The real Black Angel hadn't been anywhere around during the entirety of it which Jace hadn't appreciated. Once all the copies were defeated, he crossed his arms over his chest and studied the scene around them. Why did Black Angel do that? What? Was he just keeping up appearances or something?

Clary came up beside Jace. She was a little out of breath but otherwise seemed alright.

"First time we've had to deal with them," Clary said. Jace didn't look at her.

"Yup."

"Guess it's a good thing we had up those cameras."

"Yup."

"Is everything okay? You've been acting sort of off lately."

Jace shrugged, still not looking at Clary. "Yeah, I'm great. Should probably get going now. Bye." With that, he was gone.

Jace arrived back at his apartment feeling exhausted. He groaned as he pulled off his mask and tossed it on the couch. Isabelle was standing in the kitchen holding a cup of coffee. Her eyes were wide.

"Wow, so you really are the Badger..."

Jace let out a little chuckle and shook his head as he headed to his room to change. He called back, "You thought I would lie about that?"

"No, it's just hearing and seeing are two different kinds of believing." Isabelle was silent for a few moments. "So, what happened this time?"

"Some of the copies went live. Started attacking the streets. We took care of the situation." Jace came back out now wearing regular street clothes. "Nothing interesting."

Isabelle nodded. "And Clary?"

He shrugged not really knowing what to say. "I guess she's alright. I left after the fight ASAP." He plopped down on the couch and Isabelle soon joined him. "Any ideas on how to distance myself from her permanently?"

"Actually, I have been thinking about it and I think your best bet is to get a girlfriend."

Jace shook his head. "Nah, I considered that a while back when I started getting too distracted. Then, I ran into Kaelie on the street, we started talking, and I decided it might not be the best idea to get a girlfriend for the sole purpose of distancing myself from Clary."

"But do you remember what happened after that? Clary saw you two together in Java Jones and she got super jealous." Isabelle turned to face Jace with her whole body. Her eyebrows were high in excitement. "You don't need a real girlfriend. You just need Clary to think that you're sleeping around and seeing other people. Make her think that you're not completely head over heels for her."

Jace opened his mouth to refute that last statement but soon closed it realizing he had nothing to say. "Yeah, okay."

"Good. Now, Clary's got work today." Isabelle grabbed Jace's phone off the coffee table and thrust it out towards him. "And you've got a whole bunch of numbers in here, Herondale. It's time to give one of them a call."

* * *

"You're late again!" Magnus called to Clary as she rushed back to the employee's only room in order to grab her apron so she could start work.

"And what else is new?" Clary responded. Magnus could only shake his head.

"You're gonna be fired one day and I'm going to have no sympathy."

Clary almost laughed. "They'd never fire me. I'm too loved by the staff and the customers."

"I hate to admit when you're right," he muttered.

Clary immediately got to work making people's coffees. She was a little sore from her earlier fight, but the several ibuprofens she'd taken were beginning to kick in. As the hours passed and people came and went, Clary's mind wandered.

"What you thinking about?" Magnus asked Clary when no one was at the cash register. She turned to him a little startled.

"Nothing really."

"Oh, so you meant to pour whipped cream all over your hand?" At Magnus' pointed smirk, Clary turned to what she had been doing to realize that she was missing the mug she was holding and was instead getting whipped cream on her hand. She groaned as she set down the cup and grabbed a rag.

"Guess I spaced out a little." She wiped at her hand, her thoughts once again taking over, before turning back to Magnus. "Have you ever felt like you're not in control of your own life? Like you get no say in what you get to do?"

"Woah." Magnus furrowed his eyebrows at her. He leaned back against the counter with his hands crossed in front of his chest. "Where is this coming from?"

Clary shook her head. "I don't know. I guess everything from the past year has just been catching up with me recently. I mean, I ran into my older brother Sebastian a little while ago and it just wasn't anything like what I would've expected our reunion to be."

"What's happened in the past year? And your brother?" Magnus was blinking surprised. "You haven't seen your brother in years, right?"

She nodded. "Right. But now all of a sudden he's back in my life in the absolute worst way possible."

"What?" Magnus chuckled. "Does he want money or something?" Clary laughed but said nothing. Couldn't reveal all of her secrets... "Hey, it's going to be okay. I'm sure this will all blow over soon and you won't see him for another ten years or whatever."

The smile was forced, but she managed it. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'm just letting my head get the best of me. Mags, what would I do without you?"

He shrugged, turning back around as someone approached the register. "Let life completely cripple you in every way?"

This time, the smile was real. "Yup, sounds about right."

As Clary was turning back to her work and shaking her head at how ridiculous her friend was, she saw the door to Java Jones open. Jace entered and alongside him was some girl that Clary had never seen before. Talk about tall, blonde, and dumb... Clary frowned as she watched the two laughing at something that was said and find a seat in the coffee shop. She caught Jace's gaze for half a second but he was completely unreadable.

Calming herself, Clary pulled out her phone. There was no need to jump to conclusions, right? Quickly, she texted Alec.

_From Clary:  
Hey, does Jace have any siblings?  
More specifically, any sisters?_

_From Alec:  
No.  
He's an only child  
Why do you ask?_

Without responding to Alec's second message, Clary blew out a huff and shoved her phone back in her pocket. Maybe this was like that time she'd seen him with that one ex of his, Kaelie. Maybe it was just an old friend he'd run into and they were catching up. Yeah, that was it. That had to be it.

Clary went on with her job, making coffee and little snacks. The entire time, her mind was on Jace and the bimbo. She didn't even realize how upset she was until Magnus said something.

"Hey, Clare? Has your hair always been that bright red? I thought it was more carrot, but-"

Immediately, Clary's hands flew to her head. So, sure, she was pretty mad.

"I'm sure it's just the lighting," Clary said and she tried chuckling a little to lighten the mood- well, _her _mood- but Magnus looked unconvinced.

"Umm, okay? I'm going on break, so I'll see you in twenty." He headed for the break room much to Clary's demise. She didn't want to be left alone out here when Jace was still sitting on a couch with the blonde! Right where she could perfectly see them too! It was almost like he was _trying _to make Clary see this girl.

Nervous, Clary chewed on her thumb as she once again pulled out her phone and rushed to text Simon. She told him to come ASAP and when he replied that he was with Izzy she said to bring her along. ASAP.

It took only five minutes for Simon and Isabelle to arrive. In that time, Clary got to witness Jace kiss the girl's neck, whisper in her ear, and feed her biscotti. Needless to say, Clary felt like throwing up.

"What was so urgent that you needed us to come here?" Simon asked sitting on a stool at the counter. Isabelle took the seat beside him.

"That," Clary said and she motioned to where Jace sat. When the two spotted him, they turned back immediately.

"Is he on a date?" Simon questioned. "I thought he liked you? Why would he be on a date with someone else and why would he bring her _here_?"

Clary pouted and leaned against the counter. "I thought he liked me too. I can't even be upset about it though because I'm not supposed to like him."

"Why not- nevermind, superhero thing. I know, sorry." Simon waved a dismissive hand when the realization came to him.

Clary stared at Jace for a moment longer before she realized that Izzy had yet to say anything. "Iz? Any thoughts? I figured you'd be blowing up about this."

Instead of going off, she only shrugged. "Honestly, I'm just not all that surprised. I mean, it is Jace we're talking about and he does have a history with a lot of women. I know that I wanted you two to date for the longest time, but I've just come to realize that maybe you guys wouldn't be all that perfect together after all. He is kind of an asshole if you hadn't noticed."

Clary gaped. Had Isabelle really just said all of that? Sure, she was known for being honest but this was next level. And Jace wasn't an asshole. At least, the Jace Clary had gotten to know in the past month or so wasn't an asshole. He was a really sweet, funny, and caring guy that actually valued being a superhero as much as she did. The Jace Isabelle was describing was the Jace Clary thought she knew when he was just Badger to her.

"Oh, look at that," Isabelle said, "they're leaving." Clary watched as Jace guided the blonde from the coffee shop with his hand in the small of her back. "Yikes. Hey, Si do you think I can stay the night with you because who knows how long that chick is going to be over for."

Simon obviously agreed but Clary wasn't even listening anymore. She felt heartbroken and betrayed. But was it really even fair to feel betrayed by a guy you weren't even dating? She didn't know and, at this point, she didn't care. All she could focus on anymore was getting through the rest of this shift and then going home to sleep.

No amount of ibuprofen could fix this kind of pain...


	22. I'm Getting Pretty Sick Of This

**I know a whole bunch of you are mad at both me and Jace, so I'm going to update twice today. Please be sure to review!**

Day two.

Jace only had three days left. Today, tomorrow, and then he would be gone. Except, he still didn't know how he wasn't going to go about disappearing. Did he tell everyone he was moving away? Would that even be believable? Maybe he could fake his own death. Or maybe he could have Black Angel fake his death. That might be believable.

Jace thought he was doing a half-way decent job of distancing himself from his friends. Alec was pretty pissed at him for a few things he'd said and done now. And from the look on Clary's face when she'd seen him in Java Jones the other day, she definitely wasn't his biggest fan. And then, the next day he'd known she was going to Taki's with Simon, so he made a point of eating lunch with another girl there. Yeah, it hurt pushing away two of the people closest to him, but it had to be done. For the sake of saving them, it had to be done.

Izzy seemed to be an expert on pushing people away and he was thankful now that he had entrusted her with his secret. He'd also expected more questions, but questions she restrained from asking. Every now and then she gave him a sympathetic glance and asked how things were going. Not good. Things were never good. Especially with the number of Black Angel copy attacks that had been happening. There had been two the day before and Clary kept on getting injured in them. Not that Jace could care, but he did care. Obviously, he cared. The point was that he had to pretend he didn't care.

When the door opened and Isabelle walked in, she smiled at him as if he'd just done something great. She tossed down her purse and continued into the kitchen.

"What's up, Mr. Hated?" At the strange look Jace gave her, Isabelle elaborated. "I just spent a good two hours listening to Clary rant about how you not only are a douche as yourself but also about how you're a prick as a superhero." She poured herself a glass of water and sort of raised it to him. "You, my dear friend, are successfully hated."

Jace let his head fall back on the couch. "Wow, doesn't that make me feel great."

Isabelle appeared beside him. She picked her feet up and set them on the coffee table. "This is what you wanted though. You've been trying to make Clary upset with you. You succeeded."

"Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it," Jace sighed.

"No shit you're not happy about it, but just remember that all of this effort is being put towards a much larger goal." She rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. "You're a really good guy, Jace."

Jace chuckled. "You know, it's kind of hard to believe that I haven't known you all my life. You feel like a sister."

The smile on Isabelle's face reached her eyes. She extended her arm around the golden boy's shoulders and squeezed. "You know, that's one of the sweetest things I've ever heard. And you feel like a brother, really."

"Speaking of brothers." Jace groaned remembering Alec. He leaned forward, holding his head in his hands. "I don't know how I'm going to get Alec to hate me. He's a little mad at me right now but that'll blow over by tomorrow. It always does."

"You know, it might be worth it to tell Alec the truth."

At Isabelle's suggestion, Jace whipped his head back up. "Are you kidding me? Telling you was one thing, but telling Alec would be this huge mess. I've basically been lying to him for more than a year. He would never forgive me for that."

She shrugged. "So, you're saying that he would hate you?"

"No, that's different. Pissing him off to the point that he can't stand me won't hurt him like betrayal will. And besides, if I told him everything, he would never let me go through with this deal."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Isabelle opened her mouth to say something else, but the doorbell rang. She held up a finger to Jace before standing to answer it.

"Hey," Clary said greeting her friend. For a moment, she glanced past Isabelle and saw Jace sitting on the couch. Immediately, she averted her gaze. "I realized that I left my wallet in your purse."

"Oh, yeah I'll get it." Isabelle walked away to get said purse and Jace noticed that Clary was refusing to enter the apartment when in a situation like this, she normally would. She was also looking anywhere and everywhere but Jace. When Isabelle returned, Clary smiled and thanked her and turned to leave. Closing the door, Isabelle shook her head. "Damn, like ice." She smiled back at Jace who was just sullen now. Quickly, her grin turned to a frown. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Jace was taken aback by the sudden question. Isabelle had always been rather supportive of him in the past few days. "What do you mean?"

"Are you sure you want to give yourself up? Can't you try and figure out another way to stop Black Angel?"

Jace stood up. "Stuff like this is why I refuse to tell Alec or Clary."

"I know, but Jace you're broken. You're hurting yourself more than you could ever hurt either of them."

"But that's the point! I get hurt so they don't have to be!"

"But you're hurting me too..." Isabelle took a few steps forward so they were more face to face. "You're my friend and you're practically throwing yourself away when there might be other options. What if you and Clary found a way to beat Black Angel? What if you make a different deal?"

"No, he's getting stronger by the day. And I talked with him for like two hours, this was the only way. I have to do it."

"But Jace-"

"No more buts!" Jace threw his arms up and paced a little bit. "It's either I die or everyone else dies. I choose the former. I will always choose the former." With that, Jace stormed into his room and slammed the door behind him.

* * *

Clary stretched out on the couch in Magnus and Alec's apartment. She stared up at the ceiling as she listened to what Magnus was rambling on about. He was over in the kitchen, cooking. Alec was sitting in the chair beside the couch, reading.

"And so I told him, 'if you're going to adopt a cat, then you can't name it Mulder. That's a horrible name.' And anyway, we got into this whole big debate that ended with a bidding war. So, that's how I got the kitten." As Magnus finished the story, said kitten came up beside the couch. Clary looked down at it and let her arm fall so she could stroke the thing.

"What'd you say his name was?" she wondered.

"Chairman Meow," Alec answered. "And if you're curious, no he did not get my consent before buying him."

Clary had to hide her laughter at that. "Well, he's adorable."

"Yeah." Alec sighed. "I guess I love him anyway."

"Which one? Magnus or the cat?" Clary turned her head a little so she could see Alec contemplate the question.

"The cat," he decided after a few moments.

"Hey!" Magnus shouted from the kitchen, and this time Clary let herself laugh.

"Relax, I love you too," Alec called back. He bookmarked his book and set it down on the side table. "You know, I was supposed to head over to Jace and Izzy's tonight, but I'm really just not in the mood to see Jace."

This piqued Clary's interest. She pushed herself to an upright sitting position and cocked her head at Alec. "How come?"

Alec shrugged. "He's just been such a dick lately and I don't even know why. Like we've gotten into plenty of fights in the past, but he's really being an asshole right now."

"I know right!" Clary exclaimed and Alec jumped a little. "It's like every time I try to talk to him he just ices me out. And he's been going out with all these random girls lately."

"I mean, the second part doesn't seem so out of character, but he has been acting pretty strange." Clary glared at Alec and he put up his hands defensively. "Just stating a fact."

"Whatever." Clary rolled her eyes. "You know what? I say that we ignore him for the next few days. See how he likes that."

Alec chuckled. "Aw man, he'll go insane if I ignore him. I'm his go-to for literally everything."

"That's not going to end well," Magnus said.

Clary looked back to him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that douche plus douche does not equal sweetheart. Someone's gonna regret something."

"And that someone is going to be Jace," said Alec. He grinned at Clary. "He's gonna hate us."

"Perfect! We'll shut him out and give him a taste of his own asshole medicine."

Alec nodded and held out his hand to Clary. "Sounds like a plan."


	23. I Should NOT Have Said That pt 2

**I am...really sorry. Please don't be too mean in the comments.**

Jace's last full day of freedom was winding down to an end. Well, almost. It was about five pm in the afternoon, but he felt like it was the end of all of eternity.

The day had been pretty bad, actually. Anytime that he'd tried to talk to Alec, he was subsequentially ignored. All texts were left on read. He supposed that this was probably a good thing. Alec really was mad at him now. And it was the same thing with Clary. When he'd gone to Java Jones earlier she had pointedly walked away from the cash register just so she didn't have to take his order. Magnus had sighed when doing it instead and he had shaken his head at Clary. So, that was something.

Jace sighed as he sat up on the couch he'd been laying on. He grabbed the remote and turned on the tv. Flipping through the channels, he landed on the news to find that there was a live broadcast of a Blindeye/Badger fight. Only Badger wasn't there, obviously. Jace gaped as he quickly got up, changed, and sprinted off to the scene.

Arriving at the fight, Jace immediately spotted Clary fighting. He ignored her for a moment as he went to take care of some of the other copies that were harassing civilians. After saving a few people and destroying a few copies, Jace made his way to Clary.

"Thanks for the text," he said as he pulled the sword out from behind his back. He swung out connecting with two copies. When Clary didn't respond, he sighed. "Seriously?" Then, he realized that he couldn't be upset about it and moved on. Man, this really was destroying him.

Jace pulled a tree from the ground and threw it at a group of copies. It crushed them subsequently destroying them. But there seemed to be more and more appearing. That meant that the real Black Angel was around somewhere. But where? And why was he doing this now? They only had one more day to go.

Half a dozen copies rushed at Jace. He connecting his fist with the first one's jaw before quickly kicking out his left foot to hit the second one square in the chest. Pulling out his sword again, he parried with two at once while the other four were coming at him without weapons. Connecting with one's head, it disappeared. Hitting another in the leg, it fell to the ground and had trouble getting back up. Jace leaped up high enough that he was able to jump over their heads outside of the circle they'd created around him. He swiftly took down two more. He glanced around to find that Clary was struggling too.

Ignoring the two he'd yet to kill, Jace tried to reach where Clary was fighting. She had her color aura up but it was clearly about to break. When a few more copies appeared from nowhere, Jace paused and focused hard. The best way to win this fight would be to find where Black Angel was and to stop him from creating more copies. So, he listened. He changed the direction he was listening in too many times to count before he found the person he was looking for.

Jace took another glance at Clary. He hesitated before dashing off in the direction he suspected Black Angel to be in. Leaping over a few buildings, Jace listened again. He changed his course a little and continued before stopping and listening. He went on like this for a few minutes until he found him. If Jace had had this telepathic power from the start then all of these fights would've been so much easier.

"Hey!" Jace called and Sebastian jumped back. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he responded. Jace looked around, they were in a cemetery and no one else was around. Jace knew this cemetery, it was the one Clary's father was buried in. The one _Sebastian__'s _father was buried in.

"Mourning?" Jace guessed as a half-joke. "You need to stop it with the copies. I thought we had a deal. No more attacks."

"No more attacks once you are mine," Sebastian rectified and he twitched a little. "Listen, Jace, I've been under a lot of pressure these past few days and, honestly, the only way for me to relax is to attack. Besides, revenge is sweet right up until the moment it's complete, and I will continue to fight minute after minute until you finally bite."

Jace opened his mouth but he didn't know what to say. "Well, we're fighting. But you're sending too many copies. If you keep on like this then the deal's off."

Sebastian pouted. "Fine, I won't send any more copies. But I'm not getting rid of the ones that are already out. So, I would hurry back if I were you. I have a feeling that my dear old sister isn't doing too well on her own."

Jace didn't even bother questioning the man. He just turned around and headed straight back to Clary. With his speed and agility, he was back in less than a minute and arrive just in time to see one of the copies fling Clary's body high. She hit the side of a building about three floors up. Jace hadn't known they had that kind of strength. Leaping over to her, Jace caught her limp body as it fell through the air. He landed as softly as he could and cradled her in his arms. She was bleeding a lot and her breaths were ragged.

"Crap," Jace whispered. He anxiously pushed her sweat-soaked hair from her face and gently set her on the ground against the wall. "Please be okay. Please. If you die then all of this is for nothing." He cradled her face in his hands, waiting for some sort of response meaning that she was okay.

When her hand came up and lightly clasped his wrist, he released a sigh of relief. Taking her hand in his, he kissed it and then set it down on her lap.

"Thank the Angel. Stay here." Jace slowly stepped away from Clary before rushing back into the battle. The copies had gone back to terrorizing the people that were around but now became focused on Jace as he attacked them.

One-by-one, Jace took the copies out. He didn't try to take on multiple at a time in fear that he would mess up or something would just generally go wrong. He'd never been this anxious in a fight before, but Clary had looked really bad when he'd left her. The Black Angels weren't duplicating anymore, but there was still a tremendous amount of them. Jace could barely handle it all by himself.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, he saw Blindeye's costume from the corner of his eye. Doing a double-take, Jace saw that Clary had gotten back up and was now limping around trying to fight. So, Jace fought just a little bit harder and faster if only so he could scold her as soon as possible.

It took a few more minutes, but eventually, the copies were all destroyed. The news teams appeared immediately and civilians began to crowd around Jace. He pushed past all of them without a half a glance as he made his way to Clary. When he reached her, he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her away from everyone else. Once they were alone, he released her.

"What the hell?" She frowned at him and pulled off her mask with a scoff.

"'What the hell?'" Jace repeated. He threw up his arms exasperated. Never had he been so mad. "I should be saying that to you! What were you doing getting back up when you can barely walk? You were thrown into a freaking building, and when I specifically told you to stay, you got up and fought some more!"

"And? I'm a superhero; it's what I do!" Clary sneered.

"You could be dead!" Jace was shouting, and he didn't care. There were cuts on her face and arms, her suit was torn in several places, and her hair was multiple colors. "You seriously could've just died, Clary! And you're acting like it's no big deal!"

"I don't see why it is to you." She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "What does it matter if I fight like that? It's how I've always fought. Why do you even care?"

"Because I'm not about to watch the woman I'm in love with die!" Jace yelled and he didn't even realize what he'd said until Clary's face softened and her eyes went wide.

"You what?" she asked and it was hardly audible.

"I-" Jace sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. He fucked up. "Nothing. I'm just saying that it was really stupid of you to do that."

"No." Clary shook her head. The faintest of smiles was on her lips. "You just said you love me."

"Yeah, I meant as like a partner or whatever." Jace avoided her gaze, feeling like he should make a run for it.

"You said 'in love with.' You don't say that to your teammate." Clary grabbed Jace's jaw with her hand and turned his face to look at her. She was so bruised and so beat up, but she looked so soft and happy now. "Do you really love me?"

He was staring into her eyes now and couldn't bring himself to lie about it. "I've never loved anything or anyone more."

She looked almost frozen. Like she didn't know what to do next. Her breath caught when he admitted it and she just stood there now, holding his jaw and staring at him. After a few more beats, she tilted her head up to his and slowly pressed her lips against his. Despite everything in Jace telling him that he shouldn't be doing this, he kissed her back.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body against his. He'd waited an entire year to be able to do this and it felt so right.

Clary was the one to pull away. She still had one hand on his face, it rested against his cheek, as she stared at him intently. Her expression was all screwed up like she was thinking hard.

"So why the hell have you been such a dick lately? I've seen you out with like three girls in the past two days and until now you've refused to say more than three words to me."

Jace pursed his lips together and released his grip from Clary. He took a half a step back and her hand fell. He probably should've expected this. Great... so this was where the true seeds of hatred would be planted. He had to do it. He didn't have a choice.

"I don't want to love you." Jace shrugged when he said it. "I sort of figure it's like a fluke in my head, you know because you're really just not my type and although I'm feeling one way, I also just know that there's no way it would ever work out. So it's not that I'm trying to push you away, it's that I don't want to like you. At all."

Clary's jaw was on the floor. "Oh my god," she said, "I can't believe that for even half a second I thought that I loved you too. You really are just a douchebag." Clary scoffed and looked up at Jace. "Thank you so much for this scarring experience. I hope you die in a hole that's full of ducks."

She put her mask back on her face, brushed herself off a little, slapped Jace across the face nice and hard, and then turned and left. Left with a hell of a limp too.

Jace let out a deep breath and fell back against the brick wall behind him. He slid down the thing until he was sitting on the floor. With his head on his knees, Jace let the reality of everything sink in. Maybe he could ask Isabelle to tell everyone the truth like a week after he's gone or something. That way he knows they won't hate him forever. He couldn't stand it if they just hated him forever.


	24. I Can't Believe You've Done This

"No," Clary said in response to Simon for what had to be the eighth or so time.

"But-"

"No."

"But Clary..."

"What do you not understand about no?"

"Just for an hour!" Simon sighed clearly exasperated.

"I don't want to go out."

"Well, you can't just stay holed up in the apartment all day." He crouched down beside Clary's bed so he was level with her head, which was laying on her pillow. "You haven't gotten out of bed since last night and it's past noon now. This isn't like you."

"Maybe it's the new me. Did you ever think about that?" Clary turned so she was staring up at the ceiling. "No, because you only think about yourself."

Simon groaned and stood back up. He tugged at the covers a bit. "Clary," he whined.

"No!" she whined in a tone equal to his. "Leave me alone." She pulled the covers up to her chin and rolled so her back was to Simon.

"Will you at least tell me what's wrong?"

"No."

"Okay... fine, I guess I have to respect that." Clary could hear Simon's footsteps retreating from her bed. The door opened letting in light but his silhouette cast a shadow over her bed. "Whenever you're ready to talk I'll be out here." And then the door closed and the light was gone along with Simon.

Clary furrowed her eyebrows. She rolled back over and stared at the now closed door. She wasn't usually the type of person to pout like this, but the pain her body was in rivaled the pain in her broken heart. Not only was she bleeding all over her back, legs, and arms, but she felt like her chest was going to explode. The things Jace had said... she just couldn't move past it. Not yet at least. It'd only been half a day after all.

After another minute, Clary groaned and sat up. Simon was right, she couldn't just lie there all day no matter how much she wanted to. First, she needed to properly take care of some of her injuries. Then, she needed to do something proactive. Something that would make her feel good and take her mind off the asshole called Jace.

Clary went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. While waiting for the water to heat up, she carefully peeled her clothes away from herself. She had been wearing pajamas but since she hadn't bothered to bandage herself up the night before, she'd wound up getting blood everywhere. So, laundry day would be fun.

It took a little while since everything hurt, but Clary eventually got herself all cleaned and bandaged up. She swore that she looked like a mummy with all the wrap on her. With a sigh, she walked back to her bedroom, got dressed, and revealed herself to Simon in the living room.

Immediately, Simon bolted up from the couch. He took long strides over to Clary and looked her up and down. With hesitation, he lifted his hand to touch the scratches on her face and the bandages on her arms.

"Oh my god," he whispered.

"I'm sorry."

At Clary's words, Simon met her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her gently for just a few seconds before leading her over to the couch and making her sit down.

"Pardon my candor, but you look utterly awful," Simon said as he went to the kitchen.

"Thanks." Clary chuckled. "I kind of knew that already."

"So then I take it this is why you didn't want to get out of bed? Too much pain?" When Simon returned it was with a glass of water.

Clary shook her head slowly as she took the cup from him. He raised an eyebrow at her and she chewed on her lip.

"It's... Jace. He's- well let's just say that Izzy was right when she said I shouldn't be with him." She took a long sip of the water. "I definitely don't want to be with him anymore."

"I'm sorry," Simon said lightly rubbing Clary's back. When she winced, he stopped. "He's a jerk and you don't need him."

Clary forced a smile at her friend. "It's alright. I... I'll be alright. I think that for now I just need to relax and heal because lord I am in so much pain."

Simon offered a sad smile and set one of his hands over one of Clary's. "I'll let Magnus know you need a few days off of work."

Simon got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. Clary watched as he grabbed his phone off the counter and started typing out a message. Then, she turned her attention back to the tv screen before her. When she found that the news wasn't particularly interesting, she took her sketchbook from the coffee table and began to draw. For a few minutes, she drew in silence until Simon returned to the couch with a few ice packs wrapped in hand towels. He began to place them on the spots of Clary that looked the worse.

"Isabelle's going to come over in a bit," he said. Clary glanced up at him momentarily. "She texted me asking something about Jace and I let her know a bit about what happened yesterday."

"What did she ask about Jace?" Clary wondered aloud as nonchalantly as she could.

"I guess he came home last night acting really mad and she tried asking him what was wrong but he just stormed into his room without a word."

Clary furrowed her eyebrows as she continued to draw. She didn't care though. It was Jace. Why would she care about Jace?

"Does Izzy know about my current state of being?" Clary asked flickering her gaze from ice pack to ice pack.

"Well, she saw the news coverage last night, so I assume she has an idea about how beat up you are." Simon changed the channel. His phone went off and he checked it silently. Clary watched the expression change on his face as he responded to whoever had messaged him.

"What's wrong?"

Simon shook his head. "Nothing, Alec just asked me something."

"Simon?"

Again, he shook his head. "Nothing." He stood up. "I'm- I'll be right back." With that, he headed off towards his room.

Clary watched her friend walk away with confusion. When his bedroom door closed behind him, she faced forward and crossed her arms over her chest. She did not appreciate secrets. Attempting to ignore the current situation, Clary returned to her sketchbook. The minutes ticked by. And then an hour passed. And then the doorbell rang. Sighing, Clary pushed her ice packs off herself and stood to answer the door.

When she opened the door, Isabelle greeted her immediately with a smile that was quickly replaced with a worried frown. She stepped through the doorway and set both her hands on either of Clary's shoulders.

"Don't even say it," Clary said. "I already know that I look like crap."

Chuckling a little, Isabelle hooked an arm through Clary's and the two walked back to the couch. When Isabelle almost sat on an ice pack, she proceeded to grab all of them and hand them to Clary with a pointed look. Understanding, Clary sighed, sat down, and covered herself with the ice packs again.

"How much sleep did you get last night?" Isabelle wondered.

Clary leaned her head back against the couch. "I don't know. As soon as I got home I passed out, and I woke up at noon."

"So, a decent amount." Isabelle rubbed Clary's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I have never been so not okay in my life." She shook her head thinking back to all the year's events. "You know, I'm not going to lie... I really want my mom right now."

"I think your mom would have a question or two about why you're covered head to toe in bruises and cuts." After a pause, Isabelle continued. "I think you should go to the hospital."

"And tell them what?" Clary lolled her head to the side so that she was looking at the raven-haired girl. "You can't go to a hospital without questions being asked."

"We'll come up with something." Isabelle sighed. "Anything. You're not well, Clare. You need professional help. For once in your superhero life, please get some help."

Clary looked down at her hands in her lap. She knew that Izzy was right. She also knew that it was complicated and that everything, since she'd become a superhero, had gotten infinitely more complicated.

"Can we not go immediately?" Clary asked. "Later tonight or even tomorrow morning?"

Isabelle nodded, a smile pulling at her lips. "We'll go tonight. And Simon and I will come up with some great elaborate story to cover up for why you're so beat up. There is nothing for you to worry about."

Clary nodded taking a deep breath. She would be alright. With Simon and Isabelle at her side, she knew she would be alright.

* * *

Late that night, Clary was resting in her room. Simon had informed her that her cover story was she had been attacked by a small pack of vicious dogs. She supposed it was true enough considering how animal-like Black Angel was.

It was nearly eight pm when Clary came limping out of her room, ready to go to the hospital. Or as ready as she ever would be. Needless to say, she did not like going to the hospital. Simon and Isabelle were in the living room when Clary came out and neither noticed her right away. They were in deep conversation about something. When Clary caught a snippet of what they were discussing, she turned herself invisible and inched towards them.

"So, you haven't seen him either?" Simon was asking Isabelle.

She hesitated. "I didn't seem him this morning before coming here and I didn't see him when I went to the apartment just now either. I'm telling you, he's not there."

"Well, Alec is worried."

"Wasn't Alec ignoring him or something?" There was something off about Isabelle. She was avoiding looking directly into Simon's eye; her gaze was focused on his forehead.

"He was, yes, but today he decided to try and contact him and Jace didn't answer. So, he went to your guys' apartment and he wasn't there." Simon was concerned though Clary didn't know what for. They were talking about Jace, so what mattered?

"Yeah, yeah I got that." Isabelle rolled her eyes. Another sign that something was off. Why was she being so passive-aggressive? "Maybe after the fight last night he got hurt and went to the hospital."

Simon raised an eyebrow. "His health regenerates almost immediately."

"Right... I forgot about that..." Isabelle bit her lip. Then, she shook her head a little bit and crossed her arms over her chest. "Honestly, he's probably just at some girl's apartment right now. I don't know what you're so riled up about, Simon. It hasn't even been a day. He's disappeared for longer than that before."

"Because of the clones," Simon whispered aggressively and Clary took another step forward. "Have you been paying attention to the news? They're all gone. Every single one across the city has just disappeared. Why? What is Black Angel planning?"

"You think it has something to do with Jace?"

"I'd be more surprised if it didn't." Simon glanced towards Clary's room. It was a strange sensation because he was looking right at her, but he couldn't see that she was there. "What if something happens to Clary? What if Black Angel finally figured something out and kidnapped Jace to experiment on him?" Isabelle opened and closed her mouth a few times. Her eyes were shiny. "Iz... what do you know?"

But she shook her head and looked at Clary's room too. "Nothing that you don't."

"Iz." Simon put a hand on her shoulder snapping her attention back to him. "What?"

"Jace gave himself up."

"He-" Simon started to shout but Isabelle quickly put up both of her hands to shush him.

It was too late though. Clary heard. And she opened her hand revealing herself to the two that were now just feet in front of her.

"What?" Her voice barely came out as more than a breath.

Isabelle's eyes went wide with the greatest amount of regret Clary thought she'd ever seen. "You can't- you aren't- I mean- he didn't want- crap."

Clary took another step forward. Her leg pulsed with pain. "He what?" When Isabelle didn't clarify any further, Clary turned away from the two letting out a grunt of aggravation. She ran her hands through her hair, ignoring the pain that was spreading through her body as she paced back and forth. "That explains so goddamn much. He was purposefully pushing himself away from me and Alec, right? Right?" She spun toward Isabelle at the last word.

"He-" She started to say something but apparently decided against it when all she did was nod.

"Unbelievable." Clary clenched and unclenched her fists not paying attention to the fact that she was effectively turning herself invisible and visible again. "He is absolutely unbelievable. Always has to be the best."

"'Best?'" Simon questioned.

"Yeah!" Clary exclaimed throwing up her hands. "If he thinks that sacrificing himself will make his legacy last or whatever then he's got another thing coming."

Clary started towards the door. Simon and Isabelle watched in confusion.

"Where are you going?" Simon asked.

"To get that idiot, Jace," Clary said. She turned back to the two with her hand on the doorknob. "So, are you guys coming or not?"


	25. The Ol' Switcheroo

**You know, I really should've updated sooner. I have three weeks off of school because of COVID-19, so I'm sorry. But I was working hard on my own novels and finished the third draft of my completed book. Anyway, this chapter is short so I'm going to update again today. Please enjoy and review!**

Clary had truly never been more outraged. The fact that Jace would put her and Alec and everyone through so much pain just to... well, Clary wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to do. Clearly, he had some agreement worked out with Sebastian. At least, that was what Clary had gathered from the little more Isabelle had explained.

So, now, Clary was on her way to Black Angel's hideout. Simon and Isabelle trailed behind her. It was certainly a strange sight to see: Blindeye stalking through the streets with two civilians close on her heels. Most people would probably give anything to be those two civilians. Those were the people that didn't really understand what it meant to be a superhero.

"So, what's the plan?" Simon asked from behind Clary.

"We find Jace," Clary said without turning around, "and we get him out of there without giving him a choice."

"And Black Angel?" Isabelle wondered.

"I'll kill him," Clary answered and she even surprised herself. It was her brother, after all. Did she truly have the heart to kill him?

There was no more talking after that. The three walked in silence for about a mile until they arrived at the hideout where Isabelle had said that Jace had said that Sebastian would be here. Clary was praying it was accurate information.

The building in question was short and thick and rather unattractive. Clary pulled out her phone and put a blue pin on the map where she stood. Then, she circled the building finding that the windows near the ground led to a basement below the building. Clary told Simon and Isabelle to stay up there as she climbed in through a window and searched for Jace. Reluctantly, the two agreed. Not that they had much of a choice in the matter.

Knowing that turning herself invisible would do nothing, Clary did it anywhere. There was a bit of comfort in knowing that she was at least somewhat hidden. And maybe there was heat around her. Maybe there would be something that would interfere with Sebastian and his clones being able to see her with infrared vision.

It took an hour of walking through mazes of hallways before Clary even came across a clone. She took it out swiftly, hoping that there was no way for it to have contacted Sebastian or other clones. Trying not to think too hard about that, she continued on her way through the halls. It took another hour before she found the room she was looking for. The room with Jace in it.

This room had a large, human-sized contraption in it. It was very similar to the one that Clary had been put in before, only tweaked in a few places. Jace was unconscious in the machine which was not turned on. Clary knew this for an absolute fact because the door to it was open. Ergo, how she could see Jace. Racing forward, Clary placed a hand on Jace's cheek. He was cold.

Her nerves racking her body, Clary opened the window in the room and threw a ball of light out of it. After a few minutes, Simon and Isabelle found her.

"Jace is unconscious," Clary started to explain, "so I'm going to pass him through this window to you two. You guys are going to start leaving with him immediately, I will be right behind you."

It took a couple of tries before Clary successfully managed to get Jace out of the machine. She dragged him along the floor, barely able to keep him up. He was pure muscle mass and absolute dead weight. This was miserable. With even greater struggle than at the machine, Clary lifted Jace's body up to the window. Simon and Isabelle latched onto him and began trying to pull him out. Between the three of them, it didn't take too long to get him out.

Just as Jace's legs were free and thus his entire body was out, a door in the near distance echoed. Clary's heart started racing as she reached up and tried pulling herself out. She didn't even get off the ground when she could hear the sound of footsteps. Simon reappeared at the window then, his hand outstretched for help. But it was too late now.

"Go," Clary said, "run. You guys have to get him as far away as you can. Go to Magnus' apartment, Sebastian will guess mine or Jace's."

"But Clare-"

"Simon-" She was cut off when the door to the room she was in opened. Clary immediately closed the window and turned around to face her older brother.

The man's eyes went from the empty machine to Clary. He cocked his head at her. There were about a dozen clones surrounding him.

"This upsets me," he said in a tone that was far too neutral, "but I can't say I'm surprised."

Clary turned herself invisible but this just made Sebastian scoff.

"You do remember the infrared thing, right?"

"Of course, I do." Clary rolled her eyes. "But I can still have my fun."

She flung a ball of light at Sebastian and all of his clones immediately disappeared. Clary ran forward to rush Sebastian while his defenses were down but he raised a hand and flames came out. Stumbling back, Clary stayed invisible.

"If I can't have Jace, I'm most certainly content with you." Sebastian stepped forward. His clones began to reappear one by one.

"Fine." Clary raised her arms knowing he could see the red shape of her body glowing. "Take me. Take my powers. Just leave Jace and Simon and everyone I love alone!"

"And what if I don't? The original agreement between myself and the Badger was that if I had him, I would leave everyone else alone. But now I don't have him. Instead, I have you. That means, there is no agreement for me to oblige by."

Clary clenched her jaw. She created a sword of color in her hands and swung toward Sebastian. He easily parried her with his own weapons.

"It was a fair agreement," Sebastian shouted. "Especially for him. A stupid boy fallen desperately in love and willing to sacrifice himself for the 'greater good.'" Sebastian hesitated, a smile twitching his lips. "Or sacrificing his memories and powers. My machine wouldn't have killed him, it would have just reverted his body and mind."

At this, Clary took pause. "Wait, what?"

Sebastian sighed. "I'm not so evil, you know." He twirled the sword in his hand. "I just want to make things right again."

Clary looked down at her hands. Would going in that machine really just take away her powers? Then, she could come out unscathed except for a lapse in memory? That almost sounded... worth it.

"Keep the agreement," Clary said, "that you had with Jace. Just use me. Wouldn't that be better anyway? Aren't I the one you really want?"

"No!" Sebastian shouted. "If either of you had to keep your powers I would prefer it to be you. At least _you're _blood. Jace is worthless."

Trying to keep her anger at bay, Clary shut her eyes tight. "He's not worthless."

"Before he got those powers, he most certainly was." The words came out as a whisper. Menacing and low.

"He is not," Clary started soft and then went loud, "WORTHLESS!" And with that last shout, she felt power surging through her. Not her own power radiating from her, but rather power coming into her body. When the feeling went away, she stared down at her hands feeling confused.

"What just happened?" Sebastian questioned and Clary looked up at him.

"Did you feel that too?"

"I-" Sebastian raised his hand and flexed his fingers but nothing came from it. "What?"

Clary followed in his example and raised her own hand. Only, when she flexed her fingers, fire came from her palm. Frightened, she immediately dropped her arm. "How did I do that?"

Sebastian cocked his head at her. "Your anger unlocked a new power." He crossed his arms over his chest. "And using it, you just stole mine."

Sebastian snapped his fingers and pointed at the machine. Without a word being said, his copies started heading for Clary. Two of them grabbed either of her arms and dragged her towards the machine. As they were pushing her inside, Clary started to panic a little.

"Wait, does this mean that you'll honor the agreement with Jace? Just with me instead?"

Sebastian thought for a moment, then he nodded. "I suppose I will."

"Thank you," she breathed.

"You know, I always loved you, Clary," Sebastian said as he put his hand on the door of the machine. "You're my only sister." He pursed his lips in thought. "But I think I would kill you if I had to. I think I would kill you even if I didn't have to." With that, he grinned and began to close the door. "See you in the past."

* * *

When Jace woke up, he had no idea where he was. Of course, he had been expecting to not know where he was. But the fact that he knew he had been expecting to not know where he was meant that something went wrong. He still had his powers. Or he still had his memories of his powers.

Sitting up so fast he gave himself a head rush, Jace looked around. He was in Magnus' apartment. This is another thing he wouldn't have known if that blasted machine that Sebastian built had worked. He could remember everything. Why could he remember everything?

Figuring that it would be good to test if his powers themselves worked, Jace stood up and ran in a circle around the living room. Yeah, his super-speed still worked. So then, if Sebastian's machine didn't work how did he get back to Magnus'? And what would happen now that their agreement was most likely off? This was all very bad. Excruciatingly, unexplainably bad.

"What the hell happened?" Jace wondered aloud staring down at his hands.

"I actually have a very similar question to that." At the sudden voice, Jace looked up. Before him stood Alec (the one that had spoken), Magnus, Isabelle, and Simon.

"Though I would like to add one thing," Magnus piped up, "I freaking knew it."


	26. Inconceivable!

**Here's the second chapter of the day, as promised. And I must warn that things are going to go downhill from here. Please don't hate me. Love ya!**

Jace held his head in his hands. His palms were pressed hard into his forehead. After what Isabelle just explained, he had a pounding headache.

"You just let her stay behind?" Jace questioned. He raised his head just a little so that he was staring at the four of his friends who sat before him.

"It's not that we _let _her-" Simon started but at Jace's glare he quickly shut up.

"Okay, well great." Jace stood up. "Then I have to go and get her."

"You can't just go there alone," Alec rebutted. Now that he knew Jace's secret too, there wasn't going to be much Jace could get away with.

"Who's going to stop me?" Jace started to walk away but then paused and turned back. "Do you guys know what's going to happen to Clary?"

"She's going to die?" Magnus guessed a little bit too nonchalantly.

"No!" Jace exclaimed. "If she was going to die, I would've left the moment I found out what happened. She's not going to die, but she's not going to be able to remember anything from the past year. She's not going to have her powers anymore. She's not going to be Blindeye."

"What if she wants that?" Simon queried and this stopped Jace from starting to leave again.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean," Simon started but he seemed a little unsure. "I mean that she never seemed to like being Blindeye. She's always getting hurt and never has time to focus on herself anymore. She was always complaining about not being good enough. What if Blindeye is detrimental to her health? She hasn't been the same Clary for the past year, and once I found out she was Blindeye I knew why."

Jace tried to respond, but he didn't know what to say. She was Blindeye. Inside and out, she was a hero. He had met her because of their powers. He had first fallen in love with her as Blindeye and Badger. She couldn't just give up that part of herself. But then again... isn't that exactly what he was going to do?

But that wasn't why he wanted to stop her from doing this. He wanted to stop her from losing all her memories of this year; of her powers, her friends, him. There was no way in hell that she could forget everything they'd been through together.

Jace shook his head though. "No. I'm not going to let that happen. I'm not going to let her forget everything." Before anyone else could say something to stop Jace, he turned and left.

* * *

The sun had already risen. This was particularly bad because that meant that Sebastian would have already started his machine up. Sebastian had explained to Jace that his machine ran on solar power energy because it was the cleanest form and he couldn't afford any more mishaps. In truth, Jace thought he was a bit of a control freak. It would be far easier to use some other energy source. But it probably had to do with his mental state.

It had probably been daylight for about four hours now. So, at most, Clary could've been in the machine for four hours. But that was the worst-case scenario. The best case was that she wasn't even in the machine at all.

Jace arrived at Black Angel's location in hardly any time at all. Since Sebastian hadn't cared too much about hiding where everything was from Jace, he found his way around easily. Although, now it was far easier to find the place because Sebastian had opened up the entire roof to expose a glass ceiling to the sky. So, Jace could just look down and see the machine below him, and near it stood Sebastian. The machine was on.

Not wanting to waste more time, Jace jumped through the glass. He threw open the door to the machine shutting it off. Sebastian bolted towards Jace, his copies began appearing around him. He pulled his swords from his back and began the fight. When he continuously knocked down his enemies, Sebastian became visibly irritated. He started towards Jace himself but the moment he was close enough, Jace knocked him off his feet then squatted over him on the ground and wrapped his hand around Sebastian's throat. The copies disappeared.

"How long was she in there?" Jace demanded. Sebastian gasped, unable to answer. Jace loosened his grip only enough for Sebastian to be able to answer. "How. Long."

"Two hours," Sebastian managed to croak out.

Jace lifted the boy up by the throat. He dragged him over to the machine and, after pulling Clary out, threw Sebastian in. Before he could react, Jace closed the door and hit the power button. He locked the door and made a mental note to return in about fourteen hours. One hour equaled one month erased. Sebastian had explained just about everything to Jace. Probably because he hadn't expected him to remember any of it by the next day.

Gently picking up Clary's unconscious body, Jace left the hideout. He was quickly running through the city and doing his best to make sure the general populace didn't catch sight of what was happening. There would be far too many questions to answer, and if Clary had really only lost two months then he didn't want to tell anyone anything yet.

Jace returned to Clary's apartment and contacted Simon letting him know everything that had happened. He set her down in her bed and pulled the covers up to her chest. Tucking in the blanket at her sides, Jace sat down beside her as he waited for everyone else to arrive.

"Two months," he whispered as he stroked her bright hair from her face. His heart clenched in his chest. "You lost two months. Maybe one month would've been okay, but no... you just had to lose everything since we met."

The front door opened and Jace glanced back as Simon and the others came into the room. He took a step back, and Simon rushed forward. He placed his hand on her forehead, then on her pulse at her neck. Then, he turned to Jace for answers.

"When she wakes up," Jace started solemnly, "she's not going to know who Isabelle or I am. What she will know is that she's a superhero."

"She didn't lose everything?" Magnus asked from behind him.

"She still has her powers?" Simon added to the question.

Jace nodded. "She only lost two months."

"Is there any way," Isabelle said, "for us to bring her memory back?"

Jace shrugged. "How would I know?"

"This is a disaster." Alec sat down on the edge of Clary's bed. He took the blanket that was bunched up at Clary's feet and pulled it over her legs. Simon grabbed it from him to bring up to her chest.

"So, we probably shouldn't be here when she wakes up," Jace said, and Isabelle whimpered a little. He rubbed her arm with one hand. "I'm sorry, Iz. Imagine how I feel..."

Isabelle set her other hand over Jace's and offered him a sad smile. He turned back to Clary, not wanting to leave but knowing that she should be waking in the next hour or so. Jace ran his hand down his face feeling exhausted. Maybe he just needed a nap. Maybe he was already asleep and this whole thing was really one big dream. What a terrible nightmare that would be...

"We'll stay here," Alec said after a minute or so of silence. "When she wakes up, we'll be here."

"To do what?" Magnus asked. "It's not like we're supposed to know about her powers. Hell, in her mind, we're not even dating yet."

Alec stuttered looking back and forth between Clary's unconscious body and the rest of the group. "We'll... we'll invite her out to lunch. Tell her I'm going out with my roommate and my sister and invite her along. She won't think anything strange about that."

Jace looked sideways at Izzy. "Are we sure it's a good idea to introduce her to us so soon?" he wondered.

"I don't know," answered Alec, "but why not?"

"Things could go very wrong," Simon piped up, "but if we continue to do nothing, then nothing will happen at all."

"Are we ever going to be honest with her?" Isabelle asked.

At that question, everyone looked to each other for the answer. On the one hand, she deserved to know the truth. On the other hand, would she even believe it? And how would it affect her mentally to find out that two months of her life was erased?


	27. This Is Increasingly Painful

**Thank you all for the kind reviews. They're really what make me want to continue to write. This chapter is shorter too, so I'm sorry about that. But I hope you enjoy! I might update again later today.**

Clary woke up around noon. She first checked her phone to see what time it was, and then she cursed herself for sleeping in so late. This was highly unlike her. Clary shook her head at herself. She tried remembering how late she'd gone to bed the night before but found that she was having difficulty doing so. It took a few moments later but she eventually managed to remember the day prior. There had been a Black Angel fight, but it wasn't bad. So, why did she wake up so late?

Pushing herself out of bed, Clary quickly got dressed and exited her room. She found Simon sitting on the couch reading something, and in the kitchen were Magnus and Alec having a conversation. Strange... very strange. Sure, Magnus and Alec had the most obvious of crushes on one another but they'd never both been at her apartment before. Especially not while she slept.

"Mags?" Clary said and all eyes were turned on her. "Alec? What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh." Magnus cleared his throat. He glanced from Simon to Alec and back to Clary. "We're just... hanging out."

Clary raised her eyebrows. "Here? But why?"

Alec shrugged. "We're all friends, I don't know why you're acting so surprised."

Clary opened her mouth to question this further, but she didn't know what to say. "Strange." She headed into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water.

"So, Clare," Simon started, "we were thinking of going to Taki's for lunch. Alec was going out with his sister and his roommate anyway and he invited us along."

"Oh." Clary took a sip while considering this. "Yeah, I guess that'd be fun." When the three boys exchanged a look, Clary began to feel left out. "Is there something that you guys would like to tell me?"

And just like that, they all answered "no" and continued on with what they had been doing before.

In an hour, the four were entering Taki's for lunch. As a habit, Clary kept a lookout for any suspicious activity. She couldn't help it. The past year or so had been a stressful one full of near-death experiences. Inside Taki's, Alec led them to a large booth where two people were already seated. One was a girl with long black hair and the other was a boy with golden hair. And he looked familiar. Like she'd met him in passing once. That was when it hit her: she had met him the day before at Java Jones.

"Jace, Isabelle," Alec said as they all sat down, "this is Clary." When Magnus cleared his throat, Alec also quickly added: "and Magnus and Simon."

"Alec, we met yesterday," Clary said gesturing to the golden-boy, Jace. For some reason, everyone froze after Clary said this.

"Really?" Simon asked putting his elbow on the table and his chin on his fist. "When?"

Clary narrowed her eyes at him. "At Java Jones when he and Alec came in, and I invited Alec to Magnus' party." At this, Magnus put both his hands over his mouth. Clary was becoming increasingly more confused. She turned to Jace. "You remember that conversation, right?"

Jace nodded very slowly. He was practically expressionless right now, but his eyes still seemed to bore deep into Clary's.

Clary chuckled trying to clear the awkward tension in the air. "Good. So..." She looked around at the others again, still so confused. "You guys ready to order or..."

* * *

"At least now we know exactly how much time she lost," Alec was saying to Jace.

Jace nodded. "Yeah, that is a good thing. I was just a little surprised when she said we'd already met. Got my hopes up." He scoffed a little and shook his head. "It feels like everything is back at square one now."

"I get it. I mean, I don't get it because I've never been in a situation like this, but I can kind of imagine how you've got to be feeling right now."

Jace smiled and looked over at his friend. Since lunch, they hadn't really discussed Clary. Jace hadn't wanted to. Now, it was six am the next day. The two boys were walking through the halls of a hospital. When they arrived at their predestined door, Jace took a deep breath.

"So, you're about to see some grade-A acting, my dear Alec."

Alec rolled his eyes. "You basically acted every single moment of this entire past year, what are you talking about?"

"This is different." Jace shook his head. "You'll see."

He pushed opened the door and stepped through with Alec entering behind him. The patient they had come to see looked up at their presence and raised an eyebrow at the.

"Hi," Jace greeted. He stopped a few feet from the bed. "My name is Jace, you don't know me."

"Clearly," Sebastian said.

"I'm a friend of your sister's," Jace continued. "I'm sure that the doctors have already talked to you a bit, but I figured you would want to know some of the details about everything that happened."

Sebastian looked past Jace and Alec a moment. "A friend of my sister's? I haven't seen her in years. Why-" He shook his head. "Why didn't she just come herself?"

Jace took a few more steps forward doing his best to look sullen. "Clary didn't know if you would want to see her after everything that's happened. So, she's keeping her distance until things calm down a bit. Now, can I ask what all the doctors have told you?"

Sebastian thought for a minute before answering. "I've been in a coma for a little over a year because of a car crash. The damage is thankfully minimal and I should experience few side effects in the distant future."

Jace nodded. "Right. You were in a car crash because you were so distraught over your father's state of wellbeing that you lost focus and swerved into the oncoming traffic. About two weeks later, your dad passed away. And... he wanted to tell you some things." Sebastian's eyes were wide, but he said nothing as Jace took a few more steps forward. "Before he ultimately died, Valentine wanted to tell you that it was okay. He wasn't upset or in pain or anything. He felt that it was his time and his only regret was having not spent more time with you and Clary. He wished that he could've been a better dad, but he didn't want you to have any doubts about how much he loved you."

Sebastian was staring forward at the wall. "He said that?"

Jace shrugged. "I may have paraphrased a bit, it was over a year ago, but basically."

Closing his eyes, Sebastian took a deep breath. "Would you mind if I spent a bit of time alone?"

Jace nodded and smiled. "Of course. If you want to talk or ask me anything, your nurse has my number."

"Thanks."

Jace and Alec left. Immediately after the door closed, Alec's jaw dropped.

"How did you manage that?" Alec asked sounding starstruck.

Jace smirked. "Well, I brought him here in costume. The staff was pretty willing to go along with anything I said. Then, I told him a couple of his old buddies and family friends would be informed-me and you- and the rest is in my hands. Jace's hands, to clarify."

Alec took his head. "You really do amaze me sometimes."

"I amaze myself too."

"So, what about Clary? Are you going to tell her about Sebastian?"

Jace shrugged. He started to walk through the halls and Alec followed. "I know I should, but I don't know how I'm supposed to. It's just like her amnesia thing. How are we supposed to bring it up?"

"I don't know. It's certainly a delicate situation."

"Simon hid her current costume and put her old costume in its spot, right?" Jace asked remembering that Clary had designed them new costumes.

Alec nodded. "Simon took care of all of that sort of stuff. I think that Clary is going to start picking up on stuff, though, when Black Angel doesn't attack for the next few days."

"That's it!" Jace exclaimed. He stopped walking and turned to Alec. "I'll tell her about everything as Badger. That'll make way more sense."

"Are you going to tell her _everything_?"

Jace opened his mouth but then closed it. Could he tell her that he knew her identity and she knew his? This was becoming far more complicated than he felt it needed to be.

"I don't know," Jace said. "I'll take another day and I'll figure it out. For now, let's just make sure Clary's doing alright."


	28. Something's Wrong, I Can Feel It

**Enjoy chapter twenty-eight, all. It will continue to get worse until it gets better.**

The next day, Clary decided that she would relax for a little while. There had been no attack the day before and, so far, there had been no attack today. It was late in the afternoon when Clary was lying on the couch watching some tv. Simon was out at work, and so she was left all to her lonesome. Not that she minded it, considering most days she was busy fighting off some evil villain.

It was nearly six when Clary's phone went off and she received a message from Badger. Much to her dismay, he wanted to talk. So, Clary got into costume and then was quickly headed off to their usual meeting place. When she arrived, she found that Badger was sitting on the edge of the building. At the sound of her arrival, he looked over and stood up.

"Hey," Badger greeted and Clary already found it a little odd. He looked almost... sullen. Usually, the Badger was cheeky and joyful. Curious.

"Hey," Clary greeted back approaching him. "What's up? Did something happen."

"No." He shook his head. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"About?" Clary raised her eyebrows at him.

"About..." Badger walked a bit away from Clary. His head was hung low and his hands were clasped behind his back. "Well, I suppose I just wanted to talk about our upcoming hero-aversary."

"Right." Clary had forgotten about that. It felt like she'd been a superhero for much longer than a year, after all. "What about the hero-aversary?"

"Umm." Badger still didn't look at Clary. He was acting so odd and not like himself.

"Badger, are you okay?" Clary wondered taking a step towards him. He took a step back.

"Yeah. Sorry, I've just got some other things on my mind." Badger pulled at his suit a bit, almost like he wasn't used to wearing it. He ran a hand through his hair. "You know what? We can talk about this some other time. I should be going, and you should too."

"Badger-"

"I'll see you, Blindeye." With that, Badger left before Clary could get out another word.

"That was... strange," Clary said to nobody but herself.

She decided that she would take the long way back home and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. The sun was already beginning to set despite it only being around six. Clary didn't remember it being so cold out the day before. Shaking this thought from her head, Clary continued on with her walk.

It didn't take more than a few minutes for Clary to remember why she didn't like patrolling. A small group of people spotted her and swarmed. The flash of cameras blinded her as she tried to focus on what some of the civilians were shouting.

"Blindeye!" One of them yelled. "What's with the rumor about Black Angel being gone for good?"

Then, another one, "Blindeye, why are you wearing your old uniform again? Did something happen to the new one?"

"What?" Clary questioned. "What are any of you talking about?" She tried pushing past the group but hardly made it a few feet before she was being bombarded by more questions.

"When are you going to comment on your relationship with Badger?"

Clary rolled her eyes. "I have no relationship with Badger!"

"What about the picture of you two kissing?"

At that, Clary stopped. She turned to the group and they all just stared back at her. Slowly, she questioned, "What picture?"

One of her followers, a girl with blonde hair, opened her phone and turned it to Clary. When she caught sight of the photo in question, Clary grabbed the girl's phone to get a better look. In the picture, it was Clary in her Blindeye costume. Except it wasn't her costume, it was a little bit different. And her hair was a million colors, and she was cut and bleeding all over. Not to mention the most obvious thing about the picture: Clary was kissing the Badger. She was also holding her mask in her hand so the only reason no one could tell who she was was because her face was pressed to Badgers.

"By the Angel," Clary whispered. She handed the phone back to the civilian. Then, she held up her hand, closed it, and left while still invisible.

Once at home, Clary got out of her costume. She sat on her bed and pulled out her phone. With just a minute of searching, Clary was quick to find an article about the exact photo that she had just seen. She spent a few minutes reading the article and inspecting the photo. Why was it that she had absolutely no recollection of this happening? And what was with the odd costumes that both she and Badger were wearing?

When Simon knocked on the door and came into her room, Clary turned off her phone. She smiled at the boy as he took a couple of steps in.

"Hey," he said, "how are you doing?"

"I'm alright. Just had a pretty boring day."

Simon nodded. "Didn't go out or do anything?"

Clary shook her head. "Nope."

She wanted to ask Simon about the Blindeye/Badger kiss, but she had never been the type of person to be interested in the superheroes. So, it would seem odd if she just mentioned it out of the blue to Simon. Hopefully, Magnus would bring up the pair at work the next day and they could naturally segway into a conversation about the kiss. But still, she didn't know how she could get the answers she needed without going directly to Badger himself.

"Okay. Well, I'm just going to take a shower and head to bed early. I'll see you in the morning?"

Clary nodded. "Yeah. I have to go to work early, but if you stop by Java Jones you'll see me."

Simon gave her a thumbs up and then left the room. Clary plopped back on her bed feeling utterly confused and a little peeved. She'd never had feelings for the Badger. In fact, she'd always found him rather annoying and narcissistic. So, why would she be kissing him? And why on earth didn't she remember it!?

* * *

She'd been at work for about an hour that morning, and Magnus had yet to bring up Blindeye and Badger at all. She was growing agitated when Alec came into Java Jones with Jace beside him. Simon was sitting at the counter, and so the two boys joined him there.

"Hey, guys," Clary greeted them. She started on Alec's regular. "Jace, want anything?"

He chewed on his lip. "Just a black coffee, thanks."

Clary nodded and continued on with her work. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alec question Jace quietly, and all the blonde boy did was shake his head in response. When Clary gave the two boys their drinks, she stayed by the counter since there was no one else to serve at the moment.

"So," she said effectively gaining the attention of all three, "anybody heard about anything interesting recently?"

All boys gave Clary a questioning look, but Simon was the first to speak. "Why do you ask?"

She shrugged. "No reason, just curious about what's been going on."

"What do you mean 'what's been going on?'" Alec asked with an awkward chuckle. "You keep up with the news." He took a nervous sip of his drink to which Jace rolled his eyes.

"Well," said Clary, "there's always something new going on with Blindeye and Badger, but I don't really pay attention to them. So, I was just wondering if anything interesting had happened." She had spoken loud enough in hopes that Magnus would hear and come over and start up some conversation about them. But if he had heard then he hadn't cared.

Simon shrugged. "I don't know anything."

"Me neither," said Alec.

When Jace didn't speak, Clary turned her attention to him. "Jace, you're awfully quiet."

He met her eye and something in his gaze startled her. He had such pretty eyes. Almost to the point that it was unfair.

After a few moments, Jace broke his gaze from her and shook his head. "No, I don't really pay attention to them either."

Clary groaned and walked away from the group. Some help they were. She stood by Magnus for a few moments in silence before he finally noticed her and said anything.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

Clary rolled her eyes. "Yes, but I don't want to ask."

"Why don't you want to ask?"

"I have my reasons." She furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms over her chest. "Why can't you just be acting like yourself right now? Why isn't anyone acting like themselves?"

"What are you talking about?"

Clary motioned over to the guys. "Simon has been so short with me lately. He's not being rude, but it's like he doesn't know what to say anymore. And Alec is just constantly acting so suspicious. That boy cannot keep a secret to save his life."

Magnus rolled his eyes. "No, he can't."

"So then you admit that there's something off?"

Magnus' eyes went wide and he froze a little. "No, no I do not. What Alec does and how he acts is none of my business."

"You- Ugh!" Clary threw her arms up exasperated. "Nevermind, I'll figure it out myself."

Clary undid her apron and started for the exit.

"Figure what out?" Magnus called after her, but she kept walking. "Clary? Figure what out?"

* * *

Later that day, Clary found herself sitting on top of the torch of the Statue of Liberty. It surprised her that they'd been able to replace it so quickly considering Black Angel had just whipped it at her the other day in the middle of a battle. At least... she thought he had. With the picture of her and Badger, Clary felt a little groggy about everything that had happened recently.

She looked below herself at all of the tourists taking pictures and admiring the view. None of them had seen her come up since she'd been invisible. Now, though, she was quite visible and just relaxed in the evening sun.

"You alright?"

Clary was startled when Badger suddenly came up beside her. She glanced sideways at him for only a moment before continuing to look down.

"How did you find me?" Clary wondered.

Badger shrugged as he sat down. "Took a guess."

Clary pulled her legs up to her chest and pinched her face up in frustration. "Are you okay?" she asked turning to look at him.

Badger raised an eyebrow, amused. "Didn't I just ask you that same question?"

"Yes, you did, but I'm not the one who's been acting particularly strange."

"I've been acting strange?"

"Yes," Clary huffed. "Oddly... nice and kind of shy. Why?"

Badger opened his mouth but then closed it. He chuckled a little. "No, I've always been nice. You just don't want to see it."

"Why do I feel like I've heard that before?" Clary whispered to herself feeling like she was experiencing deja-vu.

"What'd you say?"

She shook her head. "Nothing." Clary fiddled with her own fingers. She pulled out her phone then and opened up the tab that still had the article about her and Badger kissing. "Can I ask you something?"

"Ask away."

"What is this?" She showed him her phone and immediately his eyes went wide. Badger looked away from Clary and scratched the back of his neck.

"Oh, that," he said and he cleared his throat. "Well, what had happened was Black Angel put us both under this weird spell that made us not ourselves. A lot happened before we were broken out of it, and it wiped our memory of everything that happened while we were in that state."

"So then, why do you know this? And how did Black Angel spell us?"

"I was told by witnesses. Obviously, I don't remember all the details myself which is why I'm unable to give more of a concise answer. And Black Angel has developed new powers. So have I. Apparently, we're going to continue to be developing our powers even now."

Clary raised her eyebrows at Badger. This seemed like an oddly random response, and she didn't know how much of it she really believed. But what reason did he have to lie to her?

"Okay," Clary said slowly. "So, we kissed."

"Apparently," Badger laughed awkwardly. He didn't look at Clary again.

"Right." Clary cleared her throat and stood up. "I'm going to be headed back home then. Nice talk, Badger."

All he did in response was nod his head. He didn't even stand up or look at Clary as she made her way off the torch and then the Statue of Liberty all together.


	29. What Do You Think Of Him?

**Thank you to all who informed me that I had accidentally uploaded the same chapter twice. Here is chapter 29.**

**Little filler chapter, but it's better than nothing. Please review! ;)**

The next morning, Jace was sitting at the kitchen table. His hands were wrapped around a cup of coffee while his head was on the table. He didn't even notice when Isabelle came in.

"Long night?" she asked. Jace lifted his head just enough to see her. She was getting herself something to eat.

"You have no idea."

"So, you still haven't talked to Clary then."

Jace just shook his head. He straightened himself up and ran a hand through his hair. Isabelle came over and sat across from him with a bowl of cereal.

"You need to talk to her. Preferably sooner rather than later."

"I know, and I tried. It's not easy. Every time I try to do it I end up wussing out."

"I know." Isabelle rubbed Jace's arm. "Just take it one day at a time."

Jace nodded. He smiled, remembering his conversation with Clary the day before. "You know, she found out we kissed." Isabelle's eyebrows shot up. "I guess she saw an article about it online. She addressed me with the photo, asking what happened. Instead of telling her the whole truth like I could've, I came up with his whole lie involving Black Angel and a spell." Jace sighed. "She didn't even seem surprised, just confused."

"She probably wasn't surprised because she's in love with you, and even if her consciousness doesn't know it, her subconscious does."

Jace shook his head though he was smiling. "Wouldn't that be something."

"I was wondering, though," Isabelle continued. "What will Badger and Blindeye do now that Black Angel is out of the picture? I mean, what's a superhero without a supervillain?"

Jace had thought about this multiple times over the past few days. For now, he just needed to take care of Sebastian until the boy was back on his feet. Along with that, he had to tell Clary about everything and make sure she was alright after that. He had a lot on his hands at the moment without thinking about what his new super-status would be.

"I don't know," Jace said. "For now, I'm taking things one day at a time." He smiled at Isabelle when he repeated her comment and she smiled back.

"Right. Well, I'm here for you. We all are."

"I know. I appreciate it."

* * *

Clary was at work when Isabelle came storming in. She walked up to the counter where Clary stood, opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it when something seemed to occur to her. Aggravated, she put her hands on her hips.

"Is Magnus here?" she asked.

Clary pointed to elsewhere in Java Jones where Magnus was giving a couple their drinks. He was returning to the counter then when Isabelle met him halfway. She started going off about something that Clary couldn't hear. Magnus' eyes went wide and his mouth turned down in a sympathetic frown. He rubbed the girl's shoulder but she just groaned and stalked away from him. This was a rather curious reaction because Clary didn't think Isabelle and Magnus had known each other until recently. So, why were they acting so friendly? Or whatever that just was.

When Magnus returned to Clary, Isabelle sat down at the counter. Magnus started making her a drink, and neither of them said a word.

"Everything okay?" Clary asked. The silence felt tense.

"No," Isabelle remarked. She glared over at Magnus who just put up his hands in defense as he went on making her drink.

"I know we're not close or anything," Clary started, "but do you want to talk about it?"

Isabelle considered this. Her face was scrunched up in thought as she stared at Clary. "Wow," she said. "Wow, this really sucks."

Confused, Clary looked back at Magnus. He only shrugged. "Izzy, you're going to be fine. This should only be a temporary problem." Magnus gave her a pointed look.

"Says you. But then something happens and it spirals and this hell never ends."

"What hell?" Clary asked looking back and forth between the two.

Magnus was silent as he gave Isabelle her drink. Then, he thought for a moment before answering. "Isabelle's boyfriend decided they need to go on a break while certain issues with a mutual friend of theirs get sorted out."

Clary offered Isabelle a sympathetic look, but she wasn't looking at her. She was just staring down at her drink.

"I'm sorry, Isabelle. That's got to suck. Especially cause it's not either of your faults."

"It's for the best," Izzy muttered. "I can't explain the situation to you, but it is for the best."

The door to Java Jones opened then and Jace came in. When he spotted Izzy, he grinned. "Iz! There you are!"

"I'm going to cut you," Isabelle replied without even turning to look at him.

"What love I feel," Jace said as he sat down beside her. He looked up at Clary and Magnus but only for a moment before averting his gaze. "It's not my fault."

"Yeah, but it sort of feels like your fault." She turned in her seat to look at him. "And I can't blame anyone else because it's their fault without them knowing it's their fault, so I'm blaming you."

Jace threw up his arms, exasperated. "God, I can't even argue against that."

"What are you doing here, Jace?" Magnus asked.

"I need to talk to Isabelle!" he exclaimed. "You all hate my presence so much."

"For good reason too," Magnus commented.

Clary shook her head. "I always feel like I'm missing something."

Magnus just patted her on the back and led her away from Isabelle and Jace as their conversation began. The two stood by the register and continued to work as normal. In between customers, they talked like they always did.

"Oh yeah, so I got a cat," Magnus said.

Clary chuckled. "Really? What's his name?"

"Chairman Meow."

"Can I meet him sometime?"

Magnus hesitated. "Only if I can bring him to your place. I don't want anyone at my apartment right now. Renovations."

Clary was confused. Mainly because there was nothing in Magnus' apartment that needed renovating. "I thought you were having a party though?"

Magnus' eyes went wide. "I was hoping you forgot about that. But right... not anymore. It's been canceled. Due to the... renovations."

"Right." Clary nodded her head, though, she watched Magnus with narrowed eyes. "Fine, you can bring him over whenever. Just let me know beforehand so I can warn Simon."

"Of course," Magnus said.

"If you don't-" Isabelle's voice raised, drawing Magnus and Clary's attention. "-I will beat your ass." Jace opened his mouth, looking like he was going to rebuttal, but Isabelle cut him off. "I'll make Alec beat your ass."

He pursed his lips. "Unfortunately, I still don't see how that could work well."

"Jace..."

"Yeah, no, I know."

Magnus walked back over to the pair, Clary had to take another order, but she was listening closely to what they were talking about. They seemed to have so many secrets.

"What's this about beating up Jace?" Magnus asked with peaked interest. "Because I will gladly help."

Jace rolled his eyes. "Nobody is going to beat me up because I'm going to do it."

"Do what?" Clary asked as she finished with the customer. She joined them while another worker made the order.

Immediately, Jace averted his eyes from Clary. Isabelle leaned forward on the counter, her gaze cold and calculating. "Jace is having girl problems."

Clary's eyebrows raised, and she fought the urge to laugh. She never would have guessed someone that looks like _Jace _would be having girl issues. "Oh?"

"Oh, indeed," Isabelle went on, turning to look at Jace even though he wasn't looking at her. "And he needs to figure out how to man up and just be honest with this girl already before it causes a whole mess of issues."

"Well, there's about four other people that could be honest with this girl too," Jace muttered angrily.

"No, there's not." Isabelle whacked him on the arm with every word, her teeth gritted. "Because we all made a deal that it would be best coming from you."

"Why can't you just tell her outright?" Clary asked Jace.

The golden boy scratched the back of his head, still avoiding looking at her. "Because there's a lot to tell, and I'm worried she's going to get mad at me."

She shook her head. "Boys always make things so complicated." With that, Clary walked away to take the order from the customer currently walking up to the bar.

Jace and Isabelle continued talking for the next ten minutes or so. Then, they got up and left, saying goodbye to Magnus as they went. As they walked out the door, Clary narrowed her eyes at the pair. When they were gone, she walked back over to Magnus.

"What's up with those two?" Her sudden appearance and random question seemed to startle Magus for he nearly jumped two feet high.

"Jeez Clary, you're going to give me a heart attack."

The girl just rolled her eyes. "Come on, answer the question. I'm curious."

"Why do you care about them at all?"

"For one, I just told you: I'm curious. They're also Alec's friend and family, so that just umps the curiosity. His people are my people, after all."

Magnus grinned but there was something sad about it. Still, he sighed and answered the small girl. "They've been through a lot together. They both lost someone really dear to them recently, and they're trying to cope together. It's difficult, though, because how the loss affected Jace is way different than how it affected Isabelle and I don't think he's holding up very well."

"Oh." Then, something occurred to Clary. "How do you know all of this about them?"

Magnus nearly choked. "Alec told me."

Clary considered this. "So...I guess you and Alec are getting pretty close now."

This seemed to calm Magnus down a lot. "Yeah, yeah we are. I'm even considering asking him out on a real date soon."

Clary grinned from ear to ear and playfully slapped Magnus' arm. "Really? That's great, Mags!"

He nodded, his smile happier and more genuine now. "Yeah, it is." As Clary started to turn back to her work duties, she felt Magnus' gaze on her. "I'm just curious, Clare, but what do you think about Jace?"

Clary pinched her eyebrows. "Jace? I don't know. I hardly know him. Why?"

"Most people are pretty infatuated with the boy when they first meet him. Not you?"

Clary raised her eyebrows at her friend and coworker. "When have I ever been the one to be infatuated with a pretty boy like that?"

Magnus chuckled. "Yeah, you've got a point there, Clary. You really do."


	30. Yikes, That's All, Just Yikes

**This is a short chapter, yes, but it's the one you've all been waiting for. A lot of y'all have been saying that Jace needs to hurry up with the truth or else Clary is going to get mad. And, well, yes. That's the point. I needed her mad for plot related reasons. Anyway, here we go, my lovelies. Please enjoy and review.**

"Hey, Sebastian," Jace greeted as he entered the boy's hospital room. He raised a take-out box filled with pasta. "I brought you some good food so you don't have to eat this hospital garbage."

Jace had taken to visiting Sebastian every now and then over the past week. He had talked him into waiting before seeing Clary. Jace didn't tell him why obviously, but he had become rather good at making up elaborate yes believable excuses.

"Thanks," Sebastian said taking the box from him.

Jace sat down on the chair by his bedside. He stared out the window as Sebastian started to eat. Really, he was just there to keep him company, and to make sure his memories didn't somehow resurface. With everything that had been happening recently, Jace felt oddly comfortable around Sebastian now. Despite that he had tried to kill him and Clary for a good year.

"Hey, Jace," Sebastian said. Jace hummed in response turning to the other boy. "I was thinking... well, I was thinking I'm ready to see my family. My mom and Clary."

Jace's eyebrows were high, but he tried not to react too much. "Right. Of course. When?"

Sebastian shrugged. "As soon as possible, I guess."

Jace nodded. "Yeah, I'll have a talk with Clary. I'm sure she'll be over the moon about this." On the outside, Jace was calm and collected. On the inside, all he could think was, _fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck._

"Thanks, I'm really grateful that you've been helping me out this past week and a half."

"Of course," Jace said, his voice an octave too high, "I'm just happy to be of help."

* * *

Clary was growing worried. There hadn't been a Black Angel attack in a while which was highly unusual. She didn't often get time to herself or time to heal. Not that she was complaining about it, but she was, wasn't she? Because a break in attacks had to mean something bad was coming.

So, Clary wore her Blindeye costume and stood upon the roof that she and Badger used as a meeting place whenever needed. She walked in a square around the edge of the building as she waited for Badger to arrive. She had texted him nearly half an hour ago. Where was he?

When Badger finally showed up, Clary had grown aggravated. She put her hands on her hips as she walked over to where he stood.

"What took you so long? What if there was an attack?" she demanded. She raised her eyebrows at him. He had always been irresponsible, but this was just unbelievable.

"Somehow I just kind of knew there wouldn't be," Badger said. He shrugged and plopped down on the roof so that his legs were swinging over the edge. "And besides, I was busy."

Clary sat down beside him. "There is nothing more important than our superhero duties. Especially with Black Angel still out there doing who-knows-what." She motioned to the city before them. It was peaceful now, but he got the point.

"Actually," Badger said with great reluctance in his voice, "I need to talk to you about that."

"About what? Black Angel?"

He nodded. "I haven't been entirely truthful with you lately." Badger cleared his throat. He didn't look at Clary. "I don't really know how to tell you this... which is why I've been avoiding doing so for over a week."

"You're worrying me," Clary said. She watched as Badger fidgeted with his hands. There was a bracelet on his wrist that said "Partners In Crime." When she looked down at her own wrist, she wore an identical one. But she had no recollection of ever getting it.

"It's not like that, Clare," he continued, and Clary's jaw dropped. Not only did he know her real name but he apparently knew her well enough to call her by the nickname of her nickname.

Clary stood up, and that was when Badger looked up at her.

"How the hell do you know my name?"

Badger stood too. He seemed very hesitant. "Because there's a lot that you're missing. Because we know each other in real life. We met two months ago."

"Then why the hell don't I remember that?" Clary demanded, taking a few steps back. But if that was true, it would explain a lot.

"Black Angel, that's why. Long story short, your memory got wiped." He ran a hand through his hair. "I don't really expect you to believe everything I say, but I'm telling the truth. Black Angel is actually your brother, Sebastian. And your dad, Valentine, is dead."

Clary wasn't looking at Badger anymore. She stared at the ground feeling stuck. "What?"

"He made this machine-Sebastian, I mean-and he tried to get rid of your powers with it. It erased your memory. Had I not gotten you out, it would've erased a lot more than just two months." Badger stepped towards her. He put a hand on her shoulders. "Clary, I-"

"No!" She shouted and whacked his hand off her. "No. I can't believe this! You lied to me for nearly two weeks! How could you just do that? I mean, we know each other in real life? What does that mean? How did that even happen?" Then something occurred to her. "Who else knows?"

"Simon," Badger answered immediately. Before Clary had time to react, he continued. "Magnus. Alec. Isabelle. Jace."

"WHAT!" Clary couldn't help it when she screamed. She was so infuriated at not only Badger but all of her closest friends too. And apparently she'd already known Isabelle and Jace long enough that her secret was revealed to them too. This certainly explained why everyone had been acting so strangely lately. "I'm so... mad!" With that last word, Clary felt a surge of energy go through her body. She stumbled a few steps backward.

"What just happened?" Badger asked. He blinked a few times, worry deepening on his face. "Why can't I hear anything? I mean, I can _hear _just fine, but I can't-"

"Read minds," Clary finished for him. "Could you... read minds before?"

He nodded. "It was my new power. How did you-" Realization replaced his worry, and his eyes went wide.

Clary couldn't really explain what was happening, but she could hear what Badger was thinking. By changing focus, she could hear what anybody was thinking. And when Badger started thinking about himself, Clary's eyebrows shot up.

"Jace?" she said, and his lips parted. "I'm so confused right now."

"Did you-" Jace ripped the mask off his face. It was him all right. He took a few steps towards Clary. "Did you just steal one of my powers?"

Clary looked down at her hands. If she had, she hadn't meant to. Nor had she known that she could. "I think so."

"Well, give it back!"

Clary threw up her arms. "How?"

"I don't know!"

"Neither do I!"

Jace ran a hand through his hair. He started pacing back and forth. "So, you can steal powers now. You couldn't do that before you lost your memory so it doesn't make sense that you can now."

"Did we-" Clary couldn't really focus on what Jace was saying out loud when she could hear everything that was going on in his mind. "Were we romantically involved?" She couldn't think of a better way to put it without feeling weird. Already, she felt weird. How could she fall for _Badger_? She despised him.

"Please stop reading my mind," was all Jace said in response. He didn't even stop pacing. "This feels bad. I can't put my finger on why, but this just feels bad."

"You've liked me since we first met? No, my bad, you've liked _Blindeye _since we first met?" Clary questioned. She didn't really know how to turn off the mind-reading.

Jace stopped pacing to look at Clary. "Stop reading my mind!"

She felt a little bad. "I don't know how."

Jace let his head drop into his hands. He groaned rather loudly before looking back up at Clary. "I'm going to go back home now to try and figure some of this out." He turned but then paused. "And by the way... I moved in with Isabelle because Magnus and Alec decided to take the next step in their relationship and move in with each other. So, if you need me..." He shrugged and, with that, he left.

Clary was left on the roof feeling completely bewildered. She pressed the palm of her hand to her forehead as noises started to come at her from a million different directions.


	31. Oh, I Do Not Like Where This Is Going

Clary didn't tell anyone about her conversation with Badger... Jace. This was upsetting her... She had spent the entire night after their talk losing her mind about everything that had happened. As the sun rose, she had come to the conclusion that she _needed _to get her memories back. So, she figured that if her brother had created a machine to wipe her memories, then surely he could create one to give them back. First, she just needed to find her brother.

That next morning, Clary was eating her breakfast with Simon. He sat across from her at the table and stared down at his phone as he scrolled through some feed. Her spoon was raised but she wasn't eating from it, she just stared at Simon. She knew it was a huge invasion of privacy, but she was reading his mind. If she was lucky, something about Sebastian would come up.

"Hey, Clare," Simon said looking up and Clary immediately looked away from him. She shoved her spoon (which wound up being empty) into her mouth trying her best to act normal. Simon turned his phone to her. "Check out this post."

Clary looked at whatever it was without really looking at it. She fake laughed and shoved the phone back at Simon. "Yeah, that's funny. So, Simon, I was thinking that we should all get together today. You know, you and me and Magnus and Alec and Alec's friends. What were their names? Isabelle and Jace."

Simon drew his phone back to him slowly. He looked concerned. "Umm, sure, I guess. Why?"

Clary shrugged. "I don't know. I just feel like being social. So, yes? Should I text Alec now? I'll just text Alec now." Clary pulled out her phone and did as she said. She was jittery. She didn't mean to be acting weird, but she couldn't help it. Knowing that her friends had been lying to her for nearly two weeks about this was unbelievable. Then again, she had lied to them for a year about having superpowers. But that was different; that was to protect them.

"Clary, are you okay?" Simon asked.

"I am perfectly fine," she said. "Just had a lot of coffee already."

"Right..." Simon didn't say anything else. He just stood up with his bowl, took Clary's, and walked into the kitchen.

Alec replied then saying he would have to ask Isabelle and Jace but that he was up for it. Clary didn't know if Jace had told Alec or Isabelle about their talk yet. She supposed she would find out later today.

* * *

Clary had suggested the group go out to Taki's. It was a relaxed environment in which all they would do is talk and eat. The perfect scenario for her to trick her friends into giving up Sebastian's location. It was around noon when they went out. Clary had specifically sat as far away from Jace as she could. She simply wasn't happy with him. She wasn't happy with the rest of her friends either, but he just angered her beyond anything else.

Right now, they were talking about something random. Something Clary didn't really care about. Her gaze drifted over each of her friends as she read their mind to see if there was anything about Sebastian or something else that could be helpful going through their head at the moment. When her eyes landed on Jace, he was glaring at her. Clearly, he knew that she was using the power she had stolen from him. She smirked at him and he rolled his eyes.

It was curious, though, that everybody had acted so naturally when they got together. Clary had been sure that Jace would've told one of the Lightwoods about their talk. She caught Jace's eye again and motioned to the table with a questioning look. He shook his head and mouthed, "you tell them."

Turning away from Jace, Clary went through her friend's minds one more time. Dissatisfied with the results, she decided to join in on the conversation.

"I never would've lived in California, though," Alec was saying. "The people there are so... warm. Just all the time. I need diversity."

"I thought it was pretty amazing when I stayed there for two months," Isabelle said. "But we always have differed so..."

"Yeah, but I'll always love you. Even if you do move to California," Alec joked. Isabelle rolled her eyes but she was smiling.

"I wish my brother and I were close like you guys are," Clary said, finding an opportunity here.

"Wow," Simon said, "Clary, that's the first time you've mentioned your brother in like three years."

"I didn't even know you had a brother," Alec added, but he had always been a bad liar.

Still, Clary ignored it. "Yeah, well I've been thinking about Sebastian lately. Wondering where he's been and what he's up to." At this point, Clary scanned her friends again. It was when she landed on Alec that she got what she was searching for.

_I wish I could tell her_, Alec was thinking. _I'm sure that in his current state, Sebastian would love for Clary to visit him in the hospital. This would be the perfect opportunity for them to start over and reconnect; neither of them remember a thing._

Containing her excitement (and confusion), Clary picked at her food. "Or maybe not. I don't know. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to seek out Seb anyway." Pushing her plate away from her, Clary sighed a little. "I should probably get going, you guys. I need to call my mom." With that, Clary got up and started out the door.

When she reached the door, Clary felt someone grab her arm. To her dismay, it was Jace.

"Wait, where are you going?" he asked her.

"It's none of your business," Clary said pulling her arm back.

"Come on, Clary. What's gotten into you? You're acting weird; sneaky. The Clary I know wouldn't have used her powers to read all of her friends' minds."

Clary crossed her arms over her chest. "The Clary you _knew _was clearly a different person. And it's not like I liked having to do that. It felt wrong and dirty, but I need answers, Jace. And I think you need to get it into your head that whatever we were before is nonexistent right now." Clary wasn't sure where that last part came from, but she felt that it needed to be said. "I don't know what happened between Badger and Blindeye that led to such a mess, but that's done. As of right now, I don't like you like that. I never did before. I hated Badger. So, I'm sorry for the past two months." She shrugged not having anything else to say and left.

As Clary was headed to the hospital, she realized that for Sebastian to create a machine to reverse the effects done to her, he would likely need the original machine that he used. To find that, she would need to find his old hideout. So, Clary diverted her path and headed back to her apartment. The costume she'd seen in that picture of her and Badger kissing floated in her mind. Clary had changed her costume, apparently, and it had to still be in the apartment somewhere. Simon likely hid it. Meaning he likely hid everything else with it.

At the apartment, Clary ransacked Simon's room. She went through every nook and cranny she found. She tested floorboards to see if they would move and lifted pictures to see if there was a hole behind them. She was becoming frustrated when she remembered there was a cabinet in their kitchen that they just used for storing random stuff. Rushing over to it, Clary threw out all the useless items to find that her costume and a bunch of other superhero-related stuff was shoved in there.

Clary took all of these items and brought them into her room. She spaced them out across the floor trying to find something that would help her. There was a map folded up, and when Clary unfolded it she found a bunch of holes from where pins had previously been. There had also been a USB drive labeled "surveillance." Tossing it to the side, Clary focused on the map. There was a small x over one of the buildings. Considering that there was no x over any of the other buildings, she felt this was her best bet.

Putting on her apparent new and current costume, Clary put away the things she'd taken out of the cabinet. She went out into the city making sure to stay invisible as she scoured the buildings for the warehouse she was looking for. She found it without too much difficulty and searched inside only for there to be nothing in it. Quickly, Clary searched the warehouses immediately surrounding it. All empty.

While this was highly discouraging, Clary couldn't let herself give up yet. She pulled out her phone and looked at the map that she'd spent the last year marking. It occurred to her only now that Simon must have changed the date and time on her phone seeing as it said the day she would've thought it to be. That was unimportant though, and she had to move on. It seemed that the holes in the paper map she'd seen earlier matched the pins on this map. But there was one pin that was blue while all the others were red. Curious, Clary decided that it was her best bet to follow it.

When she arrived at the blue pin, Clary spent a little while looking for an entrance. Eventually, she found one. She walked the halls of the building for a long time opening every door she came across. The place was rather creepy, but she knew she had to keep going. Finally, she came across a room with a large contraption in the middle big enough to fit a person. Clary didn't spend much time inspecting it, she just prayed that was what she was looking for and left for the hospital.

Making sure to be in her civilian clothes, Clary arrived at the hospital. She asked the receptionist for her brother, was led to his room, and then was left alone. The door was partially open, so Clary peeked her head in to see Sebastian sitting on a hospital bed and looking out the window. When she knocked lightly on the door, he looked over. And when he saw who it was, he stood up.

"Clary."

"Hi, Sebastian." Clary took a few steps inside the room. She closed the door behind her. "How are you?"

"I'm doing fine. Better, I guess." Sebastian stepped towards her. This was strange. She hadn't seen him in so long, and apparently he was her villain. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," Clary said, "I've been better. Actually, that's sort of what I'm here about."

"What do you mean?" Sebastian laughed nervously. "You're not just here to see your favorite older brother?"

Clary swallowed hard. "I'm assuming you don't know."

"Don't know what? That dad's dead? I know."

Clary shook her head. She sat down on the bed and patted the space beside her for Seb to sit as well. "I'm not sure how to start this, mainly because I don't know very much myself."

"What are you talking about?"

"Sebastian, there are superheroes in this world. Real superheroes and I'm one of them." To demonstrate, Clary closed her hand momentarily to turn herself invisible. Sebastian looked astonished but stayed silent. "And there are supervillains too. Now, I've been a superhero for about a year and two months now, but I don't remember the last two months because I just found out my memory has been wiped."

"I don't understand," said Sebastian, "what does this have to do with me?"

"You, Seb, were my villain." Clary put her hand over his. "And I guess your memory was wiped too. With it, your powers. But I think you can get our memory back, Seb. I think that because you made the device that wiped our minds in the first place, you can make one to bring them back."

"This doesn't make any sense." Sebastian stood up. "Why would I be a supervillain?"

Clary shrugged. "I don't know, but that's something we can figure out together if you bring back our memories." She stood as well now and took Sebastian's hands in her own. "I'm relying on you for this, Seb. I feel like I'm going to lose my mind. I don't feel like myself right now. I need my memories back."

Sebastian furrowed his eyebrows. She knew it was a long shot that he would even believe her right now, but this had to work. This was her only chance to get everything back.

"Okay," Sebastian finally said, "I'll help you. But we're going to need the original machine I used to take away your memories."

Clary smiled. "One step ahead of you."

**A lot of you have been frustrated over whether Clary will get back her memories or not. Does this answer the question? Mwahaha, I love drama. Drop a review!**


	32. Let's Be Villains Together

**:) Just wanted to say that I hope everyone is staying safe right now. I love you all so much because you read what I write and you send me uplifting messages, so...I hope you're all well. Enjoy this chapter. I might update again today.**

Under the claim that she was just taking him out of the hospital for ice cream, Clary brought Sebastian to the building in which she had found that machine. He spent about an hour or so inspecting it. During this time, Clary started to get texts from Simon and her other friends. They were wondering where she was at. She put her phone on silent.

Nervous, Clary paced through the room. Every now and then, she glanced over at Sebastian to see how things were going. He had taken many things off the machine, and Clary could now see the wirings of its insides. After what felt like forever, Sebastian finally stepped away from the machine.

"I think I can do it," Sebastian said. "Not that you would know this, but I have an engineering degree from Stanford."

Clary chuckled without humor. "Wow, can we focus on our broken family life another time?"

"Right, sorry." Sebastian picked up a few items. "It's going to take me like a whole day, but I can change this to give us back our memories. It looks like it was made not specifically to erase our memories, but to revert our bodies. I have no idea what I was thinking when I made this, but I can do it."

"Good. You'll have to do it tomorrow, though, because I have a feeling the hospital won't believe we were out getting ice cream through tomorrow," Clary said.

Sebastian nodded. "Right. Let's head back now. Tomorrow morning you can come get me and I'll just get discharged. I have a feeling that guy Jace has been lying about the car crash anyway."

Clary threw up her arms. "Jace? Are you kidding me? Of course, Jace had something to do with literally any of this at all."

"So, you do know him? He wasn't lying about you guys being friends?"

"It's complicated," Clary sighed. "In short, he's my superhero partner. In long, I want to rip out his throat."

"Enough said. Alright, let's go."

Clary took Sebastian back to the hospital and left shortly after. She returned back to her apartment to be met with not Simon, but rather Jace. When she entered, he stood up from the couch and raised his arms questioningly. Clary just rolled her eyes and walked past him to her room. He followed.

"Where the hell did you go?" he asked.

"None of your business!" Clary said, and she felt like she was repeating herself. "Why are you here?"

"Because you left abruptly and have been acting very strangely. You didn't answer Simon's texts or calls for several hours. People are worried." Jace stood in the doorway to her room with his arms crossed over her chest.

"People being you?" Clary questioned glancing back at him. She shook her head. "I already told you, Jace, we're over. You don't need to be worried about me."

"Not just me, you ass. All of your friends. But for the record, I was worried as your superhero partner. Or is that over too?" Jace sounded upset. Like _really _upset. When Clary looked back at him again, his jaw was clenched.

"Well, we don't have a supervillain to fight, do we?" Tossing her jacket onto the bed, Clary stalked over to Jace. "So, yeah, I guess it kind of is."

Jace scoffed. His hands fell down to his side, and he wasn't looking at her anymore. "Unbelievable... who even are you anymore?" Not wasting another moment there, Jace turned and left the room. After a few moments, Clary heard the front door slam closed.

Aggravated, Clary went back into the kitchen to get the superhero things she'd seen earlier. She was about to crouch down and open the cabinet when Simon spoke from behind her.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "It's just... I know you're probably going through a lot, and none of us are really helping, but you're not yourself."

"What do you care?" Clary scoffed disregarding her initial plan to get her stuff. Instead, she got a glass of water. "You kept this huge secret from me for two weeks. We're best friends, Simon. How could you do that?"

"You kept a huge secret from me for a year," he pointed out.

"That's different. That was for your safety." Clary leaned her hands into the kitchen counter. "I lost my memory. According to Jace, a million things about me and my life have changed in the past two months, but I have no clue about any of it."

"So, you're just going to be a jerk to all of us?" Simon raised an eyebrow. "We all thought it should be on Jace to tell you what happened. He had become the most important person in your life, after all."

"There we go again," Clary said and she groaned. She left her water on the counter and stormed off to her room. "I don't even know him!"

"But you did!" Simon insisted as he followed her. "And you still do. You've known him as his superhero self for a year. That's got to count for something."

"It counts for me hating him. It just... it doesn't make sense that I would become attached to the Badger. I don't like him!"

"Things change."

"Clearly." Clary took a deep breath trying not to become too mad again. Not that she would admit it to any of her friends, but she did feel different. She figured that the machine Sebastian had made probably screwed up her brain when it was erasing her memory. She felt manic. "I've got a handle on things, Si. You don't need to be worried. Jace doesn't need to be worried. Nobody needs to be worried!"

"And yet, here we are." Simon put his hands on Clary's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "I need you to trust me, Clary. You trusted me enough to share your secret with me two months ago. So, I need you to trust that I only want what's best for you now."

"I do trust you, and that's why I need you to trust me. I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine."

"Then I guess we have two different definitions of fine." Clary shrugged Simon's hands off her shoulders. "I'm going to be gone all of tomorrow. It's nothing important. I just need time to myself, so please don't try to contact me. Okay?"

Simon looked hesitant but also like he didn't want to argue anymore. "Okay. Just call or text me if you need anything. I'll always be here for you, Clare."

"I know, Simon. I know."

* * *

"I just didn't expect her to react so poorly," Jace was saying to Isabelle. He ran his hands through his hair as he paced in front of her. "She's Clary, for Christ's sake. She's good; she's honest."

"She's been through a lot," Isabelle continued for him. He turned and looked at her for just a moment. "I don't exactly blame her for acting poorly. I am, of course, upset that she doesn't seem to want anything to do with us, but I guess we just have to get over it."

This stopped Jace's pacing. "Get over it? I can't just 'get over it,' Isabelle. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. If it had been me in that machine, everything would be different."

"How so? In what ways specifically would things be different because I have a sneaking suspicion that if it had been you in that machine, you'd be pretty pissed after finding out everything too." She crossed her hands over her chest, raising her eyebrows and challenging Jace with what she just said.

"For one, I would've been in the machine long enough to have lost my powers along with my memory."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "You know it's your fault that Clary only got two months erased, right?"

"You make it sound like you would've preferred had she gotten the whole year erased."

"Well, if we're basing things on the least amount of complication, then that would certainly have made things easier."

"Whatever." Jace knew in some strange way she was right. There was a part of him that knew Clary might've been better off had she lost everything rather than just two months. "The point here is that it should've gone differently."

"I know. Trust me, we all know. But what can we do about it? The more you pester Clary, the more she's going to resent you," said Izzy.

"I-" Jace groaned. "I hate when you're right."

"So, I guess you'll just have to give her some space then."

"I guess..."

"And giving her space means not showing up at her place at work, not texting her, not going to her apartment-"

"Iz, I know." He gave her a pointed look, tired of this lecture.

She shook her head. "I know you know, but you and Clary also have this really weird connection. Personally, I don't think you can handle being away from her."

Not having anything to say, Jace just mocked the last thing she said. When she continued to stare at him, he sighed. "Yeah, whatever."

"I'm going to make sure Alec keeps a close eye on you."

"Someone needs to keep a close eye on Clary," Jace muttered. "Not me, obviously, but someone. She's going crazy."

"I thought we just discussed leaving her alone?"

"And I thought you think I'm incapable of doing so."

Isabelle pursed her lips. "You're right. This isn't a surprise. I'll make sure Simon gets on that." She started to head for the door then.

"Thank you!" Jace called after her, and she just waved a dismissive hand before leaving and closing the door behind her.

He sat alone in the apartment for a few moments after that. Then, he got dressed in as his superhero self and left through the window. With nothing to do but wait for Clary to talk to him again, Jace figured he could at least go out patrolling.

For the next several hours, Jace spent his time walking around the city of New York. Of course, he knew there were no supervillains for him to ward off, but he could always stop other crimes or disasters. He didn't need to have someone specific to fight all the time. Even without a Black Angel, New York was notorious for its crime levels.

This thought made Jace pause, though. He sighed, knowing that things certainly wouldn't be the same anymore. It was utterly ridiculous of him to miss Black Angel, yet he found himself longing for the adventure and thrill of what his life had become over the past year. Who was he now that everything was over? Who would he become without an alter ego for him to project himself through? He supposed he would just have to wait and see. Then again, he had never been all that patient.

"It's Badger!"

The shout came from down the street. Some girl squealed and started running towards him. She was promptly followed by a dozen other fans of his who all wanted autographs and pictures and explanations about what had happened recently. Not only had there been no attacks by Black Angel, but both he and Blindeye hadn't been seen around the city very much. Jace wasn't very surprised to be bombarded by questions.

"Is it true that you and Blindeye split up as a crime-fighting duo?" Someone shouted from the crowd. There were flashes from cameras that nearly blinded him.

"Have you finally caught Black Angel?" Another person asked. "If so, where is he now?"

"If not," someone continued, "then why hasn't he been seen around?"

"I wish I could tell you the inner workings of Black Angel's mind," Jace addressed the crowd, "but I can't! As for me and Blindeye...things are complicated right now, but I can assure you that I'm at least not going anywhere."

"Well, where is Blindeye going?"

"She's not going anywhere either, but recent injuries have led us to determine that she needs as much rest as possible for as long as she wants." It hurt Jace to lie through his teeth like this, but he knew his fans wouldn't rest easy without some sort of answer. He wasn't sure of how the truth was supposed to be handled yet, after all. He would have to discuss with his friends about what to do in the long run. For now, he knew where Sebastian was, though, and that was enough.

"Is she going to die?" This question caused a great amount of commotion in the crowd.

Jace had to yell pretty loudly to talk over them all. "Blindeye is not going to die! That I can say for certain! Now, if you all don't mind, I have somewhere to be." With that, Jace took off running. He sped through the streets and over the buildings of New York until he got to Magnus and Alec's apartment. There, he strolled in through the window and collapsed on the couch.

"What are you doing here?" Alec asked. He had been sitting in the kitchen, reading something. Now, he walked over to the living area and seated himself in a nearby chair.

"Being exhausted," Jace answered lamely, "that's what I'm doing."

"Hard day?"

"The hardest."

"What happened?"

"I'm just tired." Jace sat up. He pulled off his mask and tossed it to the side. "I want things back the way they were."

"When you were fighting Black Angel every other day, and Clary nearly died at least once a week?"

Jace bit his lip. "Is it wrong to say I miss it? Not the Clary almost dying part, obviously, but I miss the excitement. I miss being someone who mattered. With Black Angel discovered and safely in the hospital, and with Clary not wanting anything to do with me it feels like a huge chunk of my life has been stolen."

"Jace, of course you still matter." Alec moved from his chair to the couch. He put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You mattered to me way before Badger even existed. You mattered to Clary when there wasn't a whole mess of confusion going on in her mind. Just because things are a little screwed up right now doesn't mean you don't matter."

Jace smiled though it was a painful and forced one. "Thanks, but I'm not sure how much that helps."

Alec nodded understandingly. "I know. I wish I knew what to say right now."

"It's fine. I don't think anyone could say anything to help."

"Well, if you want, you're welcome to stay here for the night. It's getting kind of late."

Jace just shook his head and stood up. "No, it's fine. I think I just need to be alone for a bit. Izzy is staying with Simon tonight, so I've got the whole apartment to myself..."

Alec smirked. "Gonna dance around the kitchen in your underwear?"

In spite of everything, that did make his smile. "Probably just going to head to bed early."

"Alright, text me in the morning. We'll head out to Taki's for breakfast."

Jace shot Alec a thumbs up. Then, he grabbed his mask, put it back on, and disappeared out the window. It wasn't long before he was back to his apartment and comfortably in his bed.


	33. Oh,,, OH! Oh, shit

**I got called out because I said I would update again and then I didn't. I'm sorry! Here ya go! ;)**

The next morning, Clary got Sebastian bright and early. She got him discharged, and the two were soon on their way to fix up that machine. They wound up spending the entirety of their day there just as Seb had predicted the night before. He worked diligently with Clary offering the occasional helping hand.

"Can I ask you something?" said Clary as she watched her brother work.

"I suppose."

"Why did you prefer dad?"

Sebastian glanced back at Clary for a few moments. When he returned to his work, he shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just always felt a stronger connection with him than I did with mom."

"He was abusive."

"I didn't see it that way." Sebastian's hands were shaking now ever so slightly. He continued to work, though, and didn't look back at Clary again. "When he raised me, he always told me the belt was the only form of discipline. I thought it was normal. I thought he did it because he loved me. And I guess a part of me still thinks that. Mom, on the other hand, was away at work more often than not. She avoided father as much as possible and, since I was usually with him, wound up avoiding me too. When she had you, I guess I got a little jealous. I begged father not to hit you too. In my warped, twisted child mind, I thought that if he hit you it meant he was giving love to you as well.

"Mom started paying attention to you and showing you all this affection. I think she tried to with me as well, but I honestly don't remember very well. I just know that I thought the way she treated you was harmful. That wasn't love, it was hate. But dad loved me, and he didn't hit you as much as did me, so I thought I was the favorite."

"Oh, Sebastian, I'm so s-"

"Don't say you're sorry," Sebastian scolded. "I've had enough people tell me they're sorry."

"But it's different with me. I lived that life with you. I just never knew how you felt during that time." Clary put a hand on Seb's shoulder. He stiffened and his hands stopped working. "I'm sorry."

After a few moments, Sebastian nodded and resumed his work. "Thanks. It actually does mean something coming from you."

The two fell into a comfortable silence after that. Clary sat down on the floor after a little while. She glanced at her phone, which had been on silent all day, to find just a couple of messages from Simon, Alec, and Magnus. She had been expecting more, but at least this meant Simon had listened when she told him she didn't want him contacting her today. And at least Jace hadn't tried to call her either.

Jace...

Despite everything she had been saying, Clary's feelings for Jace were still rather complicated. She was unbelievably angry at him for having kept such a large secret, but another part of her was confused because she knew there was some type of lust she felt for him. It was the same lust she'd always felt for Badger throughout their crime-fighting time together. She didn't want to feel it though. She didn't know him.

These thoughts tumbling through her mind, Clary barely even noticed when Sebastian stood and stepped away from the machine. It was late at night now; Seb had been working for nearly thirteen hours. Clary bolted up from where she sat, her eyes glued on the machinery that sat before them.

"You're done?" Clary asked Sebastian.

He nodded. "I think so." When Clary gave him a sideways glanced, he cleared his throat. "I know so."

"Great. Then, let's do this." Setting her phone down, Clary opened up the machine's door. She stepped inside of it and lied still as she waited for Sebastian to close the door.

"How much time had you lost?" Sebastian asked.

"I was told about three months."

"Okay. So, I guess I'll see you again in three hours." He grabbed the handle of the door but hesitated. "Are you sure about this?"

Clary nodded her head. "I feel like I'm going crazy, Seb. My head is pounding as if it's going to implode at any moment. I just need to know what I'm missing."

Again, Sebastian hesitated. Then, he nodded and closed the door. Clary took a deep breath as she waited for something to happen. She was unsure of how much time had passed, but it was only a few minutes before she felt her eyelids grow heavy. As the sound of gears turning started, Clary fell asleep.

* * *

"Jace!" Isabelle called from the kitchen. She had shouted his name three times now, but he still wasn't emerging from his bedroom. "Jace!"

"What!" Finally, he came out. He looked like an absolute mess; his hair was mused and he wasn't wearing a shirt. He had on only one sock and it had a hole in it. Isabelle was sure that were she some other girl she would find this look rather desirable, but instead, she just felt sorry for him. Sure, he looked like a greek god, but on his face was a frown and below his eyes were bags.

"Let's go out tonight."

He shook his head and started back for his room. "I don't want to."

"Oh, come on!" Now, Izzy followed him. "Let's go out and get reckless. Don't you want to have some fun? Don't you want to just get drunk and drown your sorrows?"

"My metabolism is far too fast for that," Jace said. He grabbed a shirt off his bed and turned to Izzy. "I can't get drunk."

She frowned but wasn't giving up. "That doesn't matter. We can still go out dancing."

"I don't like to dance."

"Then we can play darts or pool."

"My agility extends to my reflexes. It wouldn't even be a game. It would just be me dominating."

"And does that not sound like fun?"

Jace deadpanned. "No."

Izzy groaned. She sat down on his bed. "You have to do something. You've been sulking all day."

"I went out this morning to Taki's with Alec."

"Yes, and then took a nap when you got home and haven't gotten up since."

Jace sat down beside her. "I just don't feel up to anything."

"I know." Izzy rubbed his arm. "It's not your fault." She dropped her hand and thought for a moment. "Do you want to go out superhero-ing?"

Jace had to chuckle at that. "And what does 'superhero-ing' consist of?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Lifting cars...reading minds."

Jace stood then, scratching the back of his head. "Actually, Clary sort of stole my telepathy."

"What do you mean she 'stole' it? How can she steal it?"

"I guess she has a new power: she can absorb others' powers."

Izzy scoffed. "That is totally unbelievable. But then why didn't she have this before?"

Jace shook his head. "Don't even get me started on that. Neither of us had the answer to that."

She nodded. Standing, Izzy brushed off her pants. "Well, if you don't want to do anything, then I guess I'll just leave you alone."

Jace watched as she started out of his room. "Heading to Simon's again tonight?"

Isabelle stopped in the doorway. "Yeah." When all Jace did was purse his lips, she sighed. "I didn't talk to her last night, and she was already gone when I woke up this morning."

"If you see her tonight, will you let me know how she is?"

"Not like she's going to want to talk to me." Isabelle nodded though. "But yeah, I will."

"Thank you. Night, Iz."

"Night, Jace." And just like that, she was gone.

Jace sat back down on his bed. He had never actually put on his shirt during his conversation with Izzy, just held it in his hands and rubbed the material between his fingers. A surge of frustration flooding through him, Jace suddenly flung the shirt across the room. It hit the wall without a thud and fell to the ground where it stayed. Still frustrated but not wanting to put a hole in anything, Jace laid back down and closed his eyes.

* * *

The most unfortunate thing about Clary waking up was that she knew exactly where she was. This was unfortunate only because her knowledge allowed a wave of pain and other negative emotions to wash over her. Other than that, she felt good. Not only could she still remember what had happened in the past two weeks, but she could also remember everything from the past three months. This was great!

Crap...

Just as Clary grew excited about her regained memories, she was filled with guilt for how she had treated her friends recently. Most of all, she hated how she had treated Jace. Then, the thought of Jace reminded her about a lot of other things too. Boy did she have a lot she needed to rectify, but for now, she had to focus on Sebastian.

When the machine door opened, Clary was greeted by her older brother. Immediately, she engulfed him in a tight hug. It had been too long since they'd seen one another (even if technically they'd seen each other just three hours ago). When she released him from the hug, she kept her hands on either side of her face.

"You can't go in there," Clary said. Sebastian raised a confused eyebrow. "I know how much you want to remember, but you have to trust me. You were sick, Seb. There was something wrong with you; you twitched and had these outbursts...I don't know what it was, but I don't want to see you in that state again."

Sebastian looked past Clary to the machine. He swallowed hard. "How am I just supposed to accept that a year of my memory is gone?"

"I'll fill you in on everything," Clary said. "All the bad parts included. I just don't want to see you messed up like that again. I just got you back, and I kind of want to keep you."

Sebastian locked eyes with his little sister and nodded. "Okay."

"Thank you!" She released him then. "Now, there's someone I really need to talk to." Clary grabbed her phone off the floor and checked the time. It was eleven pm.

"Jace?" Sebastian guessed.

Clary chuckled. "Turns out he really was more than a friend." As she rushed for the door, she smiled. "_Way _more than a friend."


	34. Well, Wasn't That Just The Sweetest?

**Sorry about the delay in updates! I don't want to say anything else right now because I have a feeling you're all really going to enjoy this chapter...**

When a pillow was thrown at Jace, he didn't really budge. He was awoken from this, yes, but he didn't move or make any effort to see who it was that was in his room. Truthfully, he just assumed he was having some weird-ass dream. It was only when another pillow hit Jace in the head that he grunted in protest and told whoever was there to go away. Moments later, he felt pressure on his bed, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Clary hovering over him.

"You have a lot of explaining to do."

Immediately, Jace jumped back from the girl. She stood up straight, her arms crossed over her chest. He was confused, to say the least. What on earth was she doing in his room in the middle of the night? And hadn't he already explained everything?

"Clary?"

She threw her hands up, exasperated. "Yes, it's me! Who the hell else did you think I was? The tooth fairy?"

Slowly sitting up, Jace looked around his room, checking if anyone else was there. "Why are you here?"

"Why am I here?" She repeated. Clary gasped, then grabbed a pillow off the floor and started wacking Jace with it. "I'm here because you are a jackass that kept a really big secret from me." With every word, she hit him with the pillow.

Still, Jace was rather confused. "Okay...I thought we had already moved past that and you just hated me now?"

Rolling her eyes, Clary dropped the pillow. "You are the biggest idiot I've ever met." She ran a hand through her hair and stalked to the other side of the room. "You know, if you had just been honest and communicated with me from the start, none of this would have ever happened."

And that was when it clicked. Jace sprung from his bed, nearly tripping on his blanket and face-planting on the floor. "Wait, are you saying-do you have your memories back?"

Aggravated, Clary nodded her head. "Took you long enough."

Overcome with joy, Jace ran toward her. He picked up Clary and spun her around once before setting her back down. The lightest of smiles tugged at her mouth as she stared up at him. He kept his hands on her hips, holding her close to him.

"How? How did you get them back?"

"That's a story I feel like I should tell you in the morning." Clary removed Jace's hands from her. She walked back over by the bed and Jace followed. "For now, I want to focus on the fact that you are a jerk."

"What did I do?"

"You tried to give yourself up! You went to Black Angel behind my back and offered your powers and your memories to him."

"I was trying to save-"

"Me and all of New York," Clary finished for him. "I know. How heroic of you."

"You're one to talk," Jace scoffed. "You took my place, and because of that, you lost three months of your memories. Don't I have every right to be just as pissed off as you are?"

"No!" Clary shouted, which took Jace by surprise. "Because without you, I'd be dead. Without you, I am nothing and nobody. Don't even pretend for a second that I could go on without you by my side because I couldn't. So, the fact that you almost made me lose you means that I'm going to be mad!"

For a second, Jace was softened and all he felt was sorry for ever having let Clary feel that way. Then he realized that she had been the one to actually put him through that. "And you think it's any different for me? Do you think that over this past couple of weeks I've just been a ray of sunshine? No! I was broken, Clary! I didn't know what to do with myself. You didn't want anything to do with me. Do you have any idea how much that hurt?"

Instead of arguing back, Clary just looked at the ground and nodded. "Yeah, I know. That's part of the reason why I came here: to apologize. The only excuse I can give you is that it felt like I was going insane. I wasn't myself, and I can still remember all the thoughts that had been running through my mind as I said those things. But I didn't mean it. Any of it."

Clary sat down on the bed. Jace sat down beside her. He took her hand in his own and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles.

"I didn't mean what I said either." He wasn't looking at her as he spoke. "Before this all happened, I mean. When we were in our last fight against Black Angel and you had gotten really badly injured, I didn't mean anything that I said."

Clary nudged him with her elbow to draw his attention back up to her. "Not even the part where you told me you're in love with me?"

Jace didn't look up at her right away. He smiled though, remembering how he had accidentally blurted that out. When he did look up at Clary, she was gazing intently back at him. He let his forehead touch her, still staring back into her eyes.

"I will always mean that."

Clary tilted her face forward until her lips touched his. She brought her free hand up and cupped Jace's cheek. He moved backward so they were lying together on the bed, and pulled Clary so that she was on top of him. Her legs straddled his waist. One of her hands stayed intertwined with his while the other combed through his golden hair. After what felt like an hour but was probably only minutes, Clary pulled slightly away from Jace, panting hard.

"As much as I would like to continue this," she said in a whisper, "I'm really, really exhausted."

Jace sat up with Clary still in his lap. He ran a hand through her long hair before resting his hand on her back. "Would you like to go to sleep?"

She only nodded.

Jace released Clary, and she climbed off him onto the bed. She settled down underneath the blankets, leaving plenty of room for Jace to lie at her side. When he did so, she moved over so that her body fit against his. She slid one of her arms beneath his torso and the other one over it. And as he felt her chest steadily moving up and down against his, Jace couldn't get over how right this felt.

"Before you fall asleep," he said quietly. "I told you I love you."

This seemed to be enough of a question in itself because Clary raised her head just enough that she could look at Jace. She spoke quietly, yet with such conviction. "I love you so much, Jace. Knowing you has made me question whether I truly understood the meaning of love before." She buried her head back into his chest. "I don't think I did because nothing in my life has compared to a single emotion I've ever felt for you. You complete a part of me I didn't even know was missing."

The last sentence had been mumbled more than anything else. Jace stared down at the top of Clary's head and whispered her name. When he got no response, he figured she was asleep now. Pulling her tighter, he closed his eyes too and drifted off into sleep with a smile on his face.

* * *

In the morning, Clary laid awake, staring at Jace's unmoving face. His golden details were brightened by the streak of sunlight coming in through the window. A single strand of his hair was hanging across one of his eyes. Unable to help herself, Clary gently pushed it to the side with her hand. Before she was able to pull away, though, Jace's hand came up at caught her wrist. His golden eyes fluttered open, meeting her green ones.

"So, that wasn't a dream then?"

Clary shook her head. "No, it wasn't."

Still holding her wrist, Jace brought her hand down to his lips and kissed it. Then, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her snug against him. Clary giggled as she was smothered against the boy's chest. She managed to wriggle out his grasp just enough to lift her head up and continue staring at him. He was evidently rather tired because he had closed his eyes again.

There was a knock at the door then, and it quickly opened. Startled, Clary pushed herself under the blankets completely. Jace jolted up a little when light streamed into his room and the girl that had been lying beside him disappeared under his blankets. He looked down at the lump that was Clary briefly before turning his attention to the figure in his doorway.

Squinting, Jace made out that it was Alec who was invading his privacy. The raven-haired boy put his hands on his hips and frowned and Jace's bed.

"I was coming in to make sure you weren't going to sleep the day away," Alec said, but he trailed off. "What's that?"

Jace decided to play dumb. "What's what?"

"That lump." Alec motioned to it.

Looking down at the lump, Jace patted it. "Oh, this? I got a pet dog."

"You...got a dog? You couldn't even take care of our goldfish in college."

Jace shrugged. "Dogs are more independent, right?"

Alec rolled his eyes and his arms dropped to his side. "I can tell that's obviously a girl in your bed. I thought you were better than that, Jace. I thought at the very least you were loyal to Clary. She's struggling to come to terms with the fact that she's lost three months of her memory and you just up and move on? Did she mean nothing to you, you pig? I thought you would've done anything for her! At least, you acted that way. So, what? Love means nothing, is that what it is? You're so quick to move on because you never truly cared in the first place. Is that really who-"

"Alec!" Jace finally cut him off. He pulled back the blankets to reveal Clary. Her eyes widened and she grinned nervously, slowly sitting up.

Alec was quiet for several moments. The expression on his face was indescribable and hilarious. "Clary?"

The girl nodded.

"I thought you hated-Didn't you lose-I mean, you wanted nothing to do with Jace, with any of us."

Clary scratched the back of her head. "About that...my memories are back. Surprise!"

Alec bit his lip, taking in the scene before him. "So, you regain your memories and the first thing you decide to do is sleep with Jace?"

"No!" Clary protests. "Well, technically yes, but really no. We literally only slept. You see, I came to talk to him last night immediately after getting my memory, and it was so late-"

Alec held up one hand. "I don't want to hear how the story ends."

"It's not a dirty story." Jace chuckled.

"And yet, you're in bed at ten in the morning." Alec gestured to Jace. "He's literally shirtless!"

Clary dropped her head in her hands. "Ugh!"

"I'll just go ahead and take my leave now," Alec said. He began to turn.

"Wait!" Jace called. "Don't tell the others Clary has her memory back."

Both Alec and Clary gave Jace a questioning look, but it was Alec to actually inquire about it. "Why not?"

Jace shrugged. "I just think it'll be really funny."

Alec seemed to consider this. He then nodded his head. "Yeah, fair enough." He turned and left, closing the door behind him.

"You really think it's a good idea to lie to our friends like that?" Clary asked, turning to Jace.

"It's not a lie," he said. "It's more like a prank."

"Really? And what prank did you have in mind?"

Jace rolled over so that he was looking down at Clary. "Can't we think about that later? I'd much rather pick up where we left off last night."

Clary laughed. She slipped out of the bed much to Jace's dismay. "We should be getting up. You don't want to, as Alec puts it, 'sleep the day away.'"

Jace plopped back down on his bed and glared at Clary. "I hate you."

"No, you don't." She smirked.

"Yes." He sat up, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yes, I do."

"No, you don't. And you want to know how I know?" She leaned in close to him, a sparkle in her eye. "Because I can read your mind."

Jace's face fell as Clary stepped back from him. He scratched the back of his head. "Oh, I forgot about that. Any chance you've figured out how to give my power back to me yet?"

Clary shook her head. "No, but I'll work on it. In the meantime, I get to know all your dirty, dark secrets."

Jace leapt up from his bed. "No fair! I always promised you that I would never read your mind."

"You promised Blindeye you would never read her mind. You made no such promise to Clary." She was about to head out the door but paused. "Oh, but that reminds me." Clary raised one hand and snapped. From her fingers came a small flame. Jace's eyebrows shot up. "I got those stealing powers just before Sebastian put me into the machine. I guess intense anger is all it took to trigger them." With a shrug, Clary turned and opened the door. Jace followed as she walked out of his room.

Alec was still in the apartment when Clary and Jace walked out into the main room. He was sitting at one of the kitchen barstools, but Jace wasn't sure why he was still there. He didn't live in this apartment anymore.

"I mean, I implied that I promised to you I would never read your mind. And seeing as you guys are the same person, I don't know why it wouldn't count for both of you!"

"Your arguments will get you nowhere, Jace. I know you just don't want me finding out about all your quirks." When she reached the kitchen, she leaned on the island, smiling up at Jace. He glared at her as he took the seat beside Alec. Clary then cocked her head at Jace. "Why are you so obsessed with mangos?"

At this, Alec burst out laughing. Jace side-eyed the bowl of fruits on the counter. He pursed his lips, not knowing what to say. "You're very mean."

"You don't mean that."

"I hate you."

"Still don't mean it."

"I hate _this._"

"Now that you mean."

"Is there something I'm missing here?" Alec asked, looking up from his phone.

"She stole my telepathy," Jace murmured.

Alec raised an eyebrow. "Really? Clare, please don't-"

"Alec, I would never," Clary said, waving a dismissive hand. "Your friendship is too important, and I respect you too much."

Jace threw up his arms. "So, what am I?"

Thinking for a moment, Clary answered, "A cheeky superhero."

"Haha, you're very funny."

Clary pecked Jace on the cheek. "I know. I should be going, though. I need to talk to Simon. And anyway, where's Isabelle? I should apologize to her too."

"Izzy is with Simon. They're discussing some...relationship things," Alec said.

Clary pursed her lips guiltily. "Right, that's what I have to apologize. I put her and Simon on a break without meaning to."

As Clary started to leave, Jace caught her wrist. "Please don't leave," he asked with wide eyes.

"I'll be back later. I promise." With one last kiss, Clary left.

When she was gone, Jace sat back down on the barstool, his head in his hands. Alec watched him with eyebrows furrowed. "You disgust me."

"You mean to tell me that you weren't worse when you and Magnus first started dating?" When Alec was unable to answer, Jace nodded his head. "Precisely what I thought."

"Whatever, you still disgust me."


End file.
